Janinellia, Mariaux, Jean & Georgiev, Boyko B., 2018

Mariaux, Jean & Georgiev, Boyko B., 2018, Bird cestodes from Huinay (Comau Fjord), Chilean Patagonia: several species of the family Dilepididae (Platyhelminthes, Cyclophyllidea), with the erection of two new genera, ZooKeys 797, pp. 1-18 : 2

Janinellia gen. n.

Type species.

Janinellia peebeehi sp. n. by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Dilepididae , Dilepidinae. Body small to medium. Scolex without rostellum, apical structures consist of unarmed glandular pouch. Suckers weakly muscular. Genital pores irregularly alternating. Genital ducts passing between osmoregulatory canals. Cirrus sac weakly muscular, elongate. Cirrus unarmed. Vagina posterior to cirrus sac. Testes numerous, posterior, in one field. Uterus initially reticular. Parasite of South-American passerines ( Tyrannidae ).

Etymology.

The genus name (feminine) is dedicated to Prof. Janine N. Caira (Storrs, Connecticut, USA) in recognition of her remarkable and tireless action in favour of tapeworm systematics.

Remarks.

Dilepidids with distinct but unarmed apical structures are known from various avian hosts, and are presently classified within several genera as synthesized by Bona (1994). Their classification is difficult, as they are mostly known only from a few species (or even specimens) and show few distinctive characters. According to Bona (1994), they are presently attributed to genera according to their apical glandular or muscular structures. Most of them can easily be differentiated from the material described above: Cotylorhipis Blanchard, 1909 because of its armed suckers; Unciunia Skrjabin, 1914 because of its cirrus armament with a tuft of setae resembling those in the genus Spiniglans Yamaguti, 1959 (see Mariaux and Georgiev 2018 for a recent discussion); Ptilotolepis Spasskii, 1969 because its genital ducts pass the osmoregulatory canals dorsally and egg capsules; Platyscolex Spasskaya, 1962 because its genital ducts are dorsal to the osmoregulatory canals, scolex shape, genital atrium structure and testis distribution; Eburneotaenia Bona, 1994 (see Mariaux and Vaucher 1991 for description of its type and only species), and Emberizotaenia Spasskaya, 1970 because of the presence of an unarmed rudimentary rostellum in their apical apparatus (see Georgiev and Genov 1993; Bona 1994). Moreover all these groups are parasitic in very specific groups of birds and, with the exception of Cotylorhipis and Unciunia , have never been recorded in South America. Our material is most similar to Pseudochoanotaenia Burt, 1938. However, Pseudochoanotaenia spp. are very small (up to 10 mm long) and our material is at least 2-3 times larger; they have a clear apical cavity in the glandular pouch which is lacking in our material; they have a short pyriform vagina versus a longer straight one in our specimens. Furthermore, Pseudochoanotaenia is presently restricted to Apodiformes and has never been reported from South America. In consequence, we consider the present material as belonging to a new genus.