Kritsky, Bakenhaster & Adams (2015) wrote that "examination of the
holotype, three paratypes, and voucher specimens from red grouper off Florida and Mississippi indicated that the original description of
P. yucatanensis Vidal-Martínez, Aguirre-Macedo & Mendoza-Franco, 1997 was based on specimens representing two distinct species of
Pseudorhabdosynochus", namely
P. yucatanensis sensu stricto and a new species,
P. justinella Kritsky, Bakenhaster & Adams, 2015. According to
Kritsky, Bakenhaster & Adams (2015),
P. justinella is most similar to
P. woodi Kritsky, Bakenhaster & Adams, 2015 based on the comparative morphology of the vaginal sclerite, the ventral bar, and the ventral and dorsal anchors. In both species, the vaginal sclerite possesses an elongate sigmoid distal tube attached to the distal end of the chamber, the ventral bar is short and robust, the deep root of the ventral anchor is shorter than the superficial root, and the dorsal anchors of the two species are morphologically indistinguishable.
P. justinella differs from
P. woodi by having a vaginal sclerite with a larger (~20 μm in diameter) subspherical chamber (vaginal sclerite with a small [~10 μm in length] ovate chamber in
P. woodi). ==Hosts and localities==