Neoechinorhynchus is one of the most speciose genera of acanthocephalans, with approximately 116 described species. A recent study, aimed at establishing the genetic diversity of Neoechinorhynchus in Middle American freshwater fishes, validated nine species molecularly and morphologically and revealed the existence of 10 putative candidate species. Neoechinorhynchus golvani, a parasite commonly found in cichlids throughout Middle America with an allegedly large intraspecific morphological variability, was found to represent a species complex; species delimitation methods uncovered three additional genetic lineages. Here, we re-analyse the morphological and molecular data for N. golvani species complex infecting cichlids in that geographical area. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted particularly for the length of apical, middle and posterior hooks of the species/lineages of Neoechinorhynchus in cichlids, revealing morphological variation in the length of apical hooks for Lineage 8, although no morphological distinction was observed for Lineages 9 and 10. A new concatenated phylogenetic analysis of one mitochondrial and two ribosomal DNA genes was used to further corroborate the species delimitation among lineages; Neoechinorhynchus Lineage 8 was found to be morphologically and genetically distinct from its sister taxa, N. golvani and other two undescribed genetic lineages, and is formally described as a new species. Neoechinorhynchus costarricense n. sp. is described from the intestines of eight species of cichlids in Costa Rica. The new species is distinguished from the other species/lineages of Neoechinorhynchus in cichlids mainly by the size of the apical hooks of the proboscis.

The acanthocephalans are characterized by a retractible proboscis, armed with rows of recurved hooks, which serves as the primary organ for attachment of the adult worm to the intestinal wall of the vertebrate definitive host. Whilst there is a considerable variation in the size, shape and armature of the proboscis across the phylum, intraspecific variation is generally regarded to be minimal. Consequently, subtle differences in proboscis morphology are often used to delimit congeneric species. In this study, striking variability in proboscis morphology was observed among individuals of Neorhadinorhynchus nudus (Harada, 1938) collected from the frigate tuna Auxis thazard Lacépède (Perciformes: Scombridae) in the South China Sea. Based on the length of the proboscis, and number of hooks per longitudinal row, these specimens of N. nudus were readily grouped into three distinct morphotypes, which might be considered separate taxa under the morphospecies concept. However, analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed a level of nucleotide divergence typical of an intraspecific comparison. Moreover, the three morphotypes do not represent three separate genetic lineages. The surprising, and previously undocumented level of intraspecific variation in proboscis morphology found in the present study, underscores the need to use molecular markers for delimiting acanthocephalan species.