Redescription of Rhipidocotyle galeata (Rudolphi, 1819) (Digenea, Bucephalidae), the type species of Rhipidocotyle Diesing, 1907

Rhipidocotyle galeata (Rudolphi, 1819), the type species of the genus, is redescribed using material from Lichia amia (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actinopterygii, Perciformes) collected from the Gulf of Gabès in the Mediterranean Sea off Tunisia. Rhipidocotyle galeata is compared with other nominal species of the genus, including R. genovi, R. minima, R. triglae and R. viperae. This redescription provides additional information about the position and the distribution of the vitelline follicles, which form an arc that does not extend anteriorly past the level of the ovary, an uterus that extends almost to the posterior margin of the rhynchus and an ovary that is positioned adjacent to the anterior testis. A key to the eight Rhipidocotyle species from the Mediterranean Sea is presented.