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Gastrointestinal Nematodes, Including Three New Species, from Australian and Papua New Guinean Pythons

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Gastrointestinal Nematodes, Including Three New Species, from Australian and Papua New Guinean Pythons Proc. Helminthol. Soc. Wash. 46(1), 1979, pp. 1-14 Gastrointestinal Nematodes, Including Three New Species, from Australian and Papua New Guinean Pythons H. I. JONES Department of Parasitology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia ABSTRACT: Three new nematodes are described (Kalicephalus australiensis, Spinicauda moretonis, and Abbreviata hastaspicula), and another eight species recorded from pythons from Queensland, Australia, and from Papua New Guinea. The distribution of five of the most frequently recorded species of nematodes is predominantly or exclusively confined to the tropical coastal northeast region of the state, and the probable reasons for this distribution are briefly discussed. Although a considerable amount of work has been done on the ascaridoid nematodes of Australian pythons (Sprent, 1963, 1969a, b, 1970; Sprent and Mines, 1960), and other nematodes have been recorded or described in the papers of Johnston and Mawson (1942a, 1951), Baylis (1931), and others, there has been no systematic survey of the gastrointestinal parasites of this most conspicuous and best-known group of Australian snakes. This study was, therefore, under- taken to clarify the species of nematodes which occur in these snakes, and their prevalence and distribution within this northeastern sector of Australia. The following nematode species were recovered: Capillaria longispicula, Ka- licephalus australiensis sp. n., Kalicephalus giganteus, Herpetostrongylus py- thonis, Moaciria sp., Ophidascaris moreliae, Amplicaecum robertsi, Polydelphis anoura, Spinicauda moretonis sp. n., Abbreviata hastaspicula sp. n., and Ab- breviata confusa. Table 1 shows the numbers collected and their locality. Materials and Methods Forty-nine pythons (one from New Ireland [Papua New Guinea] and 48 from Queensland, Australia) preserved in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, were dissected and the gastrointestinal nematodes were recovered. The pythons stud- ied were: Aspidites melanocephalus (8), Aspidites ramsayi (5), Liasis childreni (10), Liasis amethystinus (8), Liasis fuscus (1), and Morelia spilotes (17). They were chosen from as wide a geographical range as possible, though few were available from western areas of the state. All specimens, after recovery from the hosts, were cleaned and examined in chlorolactophenol and stored in 70% alcohol with 5% glycerine. Drawings were made using a drawing tube attached to a Leitz Wetzlar Dialux microscope. All specimens have been deposited in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia. All measurements are given in fjun unless otherwise stated. An asterisk (*) is used after certain features to indicate that the measure- ment is the distance from the anterior end of the worm. Results Subclass Adenophorea Order Enoplida Superfamily Trichuroidea Capillaria longispicula (Sonsino, 1889) Five of the eight Liasis amethystinus examined were infected with between 1 and more than 100 Capillaria longispicula, all from tropical northeast coastal Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington PROCEEDINGS OF THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY Queensland, and one of the three Morelia spilotes from this area was infected; there were no infections in this latter python from southeast or west Queensland. This species was described from Python molurus from India, and these are new host records, and the first recorded from Australia (QM Gl 1698-G11703). Subclass Secernentea Order Strongylida Superfamily Diaphanocephaloidea Kalicephalus australiensis sp. n. TYPE HOST: Liasis amethystinus. OTHER HOST: Morelia spilotes. HABITAT: Intestine. TYPE LOCALITY: Innisfail, Northeast Queensland. TYPE SPECIMENS: Holotype (male) QM G11704; allotype QM G11705; para- types QM G11706-G11715. DESCRIPTION (Fig. 1A-D): Worms short and stout. Maximum width at about one-third of length, tapering gradually posteriorly. Males usually more coiled than females. Most specimens contained large amounts of blood in the upper intestine. Face not appreciably tilted, slightly rounded, with inflated cuticle. Head diameter proportionately less in males than in females. No cervical cuticular inflation, corona radiata, or buccal teeth. Anterior chitinoid ridge slightly rounded, medium width. Posterior ventral chitinoid piece rounded, almost hemispherical in outline, posterior dorsal chitinoid piece angular. Long dorsal gutter. Esophagus short and heavily bulbed. Excretory pore variable, but always anterior to maximum bulb diameter. Nerve ring at narrowest portion of esophagus. Cervical papillae not seen. MALE (14 specimens): Length 3.90-5.40 (mean, 4.50), maximum width 0.17- 0.24 (0.20), head diameter 0.17-0.21 (0.20), buccal capsule depth 0.18-0.22 (0.21), esophagus length 0.34-0.41 (0.38), esophagus bulb width 0.16-0.20 (0.18), nerve ring* 0.24-0.30 (0.27), excretory pore* 0.31-0.44. Spicules short (250-310 /urn), alate, equal, wide for the first one-quarter of their length, thereafter thin, and with fine nonspatulate pointed tip. A consistent sinuous portion of both spicules at about % of their length in all specimens. Gubernaculum long and thin, also slightly wavy. Genital cone short, with a small cone-shaped projection at either side of the genital aperture. Bursa with ventral rays long and thin, apposed for their whole lengths except at the tips. Lateral rays robust; externolateral shortest, directed away from the other two. Terminal branches of dorsal rays of pattern IV (Schad, 1962). A single sessile medial ventral papilla anterior to the copulatory bursa. FEMALE (13 specimens): Length 4.87-6.15 (mean, 5.53), maximum width 0.23- 0.32 (0.27), head diameter 0.24-0.31 (0.27), buccal capsule depth 0.21-0.27 (0.24), esophagus length 0.40-0.48 (0.44), esophagus bulb width 0.20-0.27 (0.23), nerve ring* 0.30-0.37 (0.35), excretory pore* 0.40-0.53 (0.47). Tail short (0.13-0.17), tapering rapidly to a point, ventral surface often concave. Vulva on a protrusible peduncle, 60-66% from anterior end. Amphidelphic. Eggs 64 x 39 yum. DIAGNOSIS: Diaphanocephalidae. Small size, face slightly rounded with inflat- ed cuticle, protrusible vulva, dorsal ray pattern IV, prebursal ventral medial papilla, spicules nonspatulate with consistent bend at % length, female tail short. Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME 46, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1979 Figure 1. Kalicephalus australiensis. A, male holotype, anterior end, lateral; B, male paratype, pos- terior end, ventral; C, male paratype, posterior end, lateral; D, female paratype, tail, lateral. (Same scale.) Discussion The amphidelphic condition, absence of buccal teeth, cervical inflation or co- rona radiata, short equal spicules, pattern of the terminal branches of the dorsal ray, abundant males, and geographical region place this species in the variabilis group (Schad, 1962). It differs from the other species in the group in the combi- nation of small size, stout esophagus, short female tail, protrusible vulva, and wavy pointed spicules. The species closest to it is K. sinensis (Hsii, 1934) (only recorded from Elaphe spp. snakes in China) from which it differs in the protru- sible vulva, less curved face, consistently further anterior excretory pore, absence of conspicuous excretory gland, and pointed tips to the spicules. No other species from this group have been recorded from Boidae, or from any other Australian hosts. The other amphidelphic Kalicephalus spp. in the Oriental and Australian re- gion, from which it must be differentiated, are K. bungari and K. brachycephalus (different dorsal ray patterns), K. longispicularis (very long spicules), K. willeyi (males very rare, larger size, straight spicules), and K. enygri (flatter face, weak esophageal bulb, higher vulva ratio, vulva flush with body wall, larger size). The other Kalicephalus species from which it must be distinguished in Australia is K. costatus indicus (prodelphic, distinctive spiked female tail, usually larger size, dorsal ray pattern 111), and in Papua New Guinea from K. enygri, K. novae- britanniae (larger size, angular posterior chitinoid plates, prodelphic, higher vulva Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington PROCEEDINGS OF THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY ratio, and inflated cervical cuticle), and K. giganteus (relatively massive size, posterior chitinoid plates angular, corona radiata, inflated cervical cuticle, and buccal teeth). This species was found in the single Liasis amethystinus from New Ireland (Papua New Guinea), in six of the seven L. amethystinus from tropical northeast Queensland in numbers ranging from one to more than 100, and in all three of the Morelia spilotes from this area in numbers ranging to 165, but in none of this species of snake from other areas of the state. Kalicephalus giganteus Schad, 1962 This species was described from Liasis papuanus which had died in the London Zoo, and whose provenance was assumed to be Papua New Guinea. This is the only other record of the species, collected in New Ireland; its absence from seven L. amethystinus from Queensland suggests that it probably does not occur in Australia (QMG11716). Superfamily Trichostrongyloidea Herpetostrongylus pythonis Baylis, 1931 This species was described from near Townsville, north Queensland. It was present in small numbers in the intestines of three of the seven Liasis amethys- tinus from the tropical northeast of the state, and in one of the three Morelia spilotes collected from this area, but was not found in any of this species of snake collected from other areas of the state. Most specimens
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