Huinaylepis elegans, 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 : 4-8

Huinaylepis elegans sp. n. Figures 6-10, 11

Host:

Aphrastura spinicauda (Gmelin, 1789) ( Passeriformes , Furnariidae ), Rayadito, Thorn-tailed Rayadito.

Prevalence:

4/5 (80%).

Intensity:

4 to about 10 specimens.

Site of infection:

Small intestine.

Locality:

HSFS, Comau Fjord, Los Lagos region, Chile, −42.39, −72.42. Altitude 10-30 m. (Type locality).

Dates:

29.11-10.12.2008.

Specimens studied:

Holotype: MHNG-PLAT-82294 (on slide). Paratypes: MHNG-PLAT-82295; MHNG-PLAT-120512 to MHNG-PLAT-120514 (about 30 specimens, on slides). Additional non-type material: Locality: "Valdivia Forest Reserve, First refuge" (according to Franco Bona’s field books, deposited in MHNG). MHNG-PLAT-87937 16 slides from Pygarrhichas albogularis (King, 1831) ( Furnariidae ), 19.01.1985, field number 657/5; MHNG-PLAT-87938, 5 slides from Pygarrhichas albogularis , 20.01.1985. Field number 667/10; MHNG-PLAT-87939 14 slides from Aphrastura spinicauda , 20.01.1985. Field number 672/12.

Hologenophore (genseq-2 COI):

MHNG-PLAT-120512 [CHIL-013/C2] and MHNG-PLAT-82295 [CHIL-071/C2 and C/4]. Partial COI sequence, Genbank MH663462 to MH663464.

Etymology.

The species name refers to the elegant (Latin: elegans) aspect of the worm’s scolex.

Description.

Body of small size, up to 18 mm long and with maximum width 600 at level of gravid or late mature proglottides. Up to 36 acraspedote proglottides (observed; maximum number of proglottides inferred from various fragments is about 44). Proglottides initially wider than long, progressively becoming as long as wide at level of male proglottides, then up to about twice as long as wide (terminal gravid proglottides). Development of strobila with marked steps instead of being progressive (similar to serial maturation sensu Spasskii 1951), i.e. with maturation of cirrus sac, testes or eggs sudden from one proglottis to next. Two pairs of osmoregulatory canals. Ventral canals with posterior transverse anastomoses in each proglottis.

Scolex (Fig. 6) rounded. Rostellum musculo-glandular, mushroom-shaped, elongate, 67-112 × 40-55 (96 × 48, n = 18), with maximum diameter at level of crown of hooks. Rostellar pouch oval, 105-142 × 65-92 (126 × 78, n = 17), densely filled with glandular masses, reaching but usually not exceeding posterior margin of suckers. Rostellar hooks 29-35 in number, 16-18 long, in two rows, with particular 1-2 arrangement (1 hook on anterior row alternates with two on posterior row) but with recurring irregularities (i.e. 1-1-1, 2-2-2, 1-3-1) or sometimes intermediate positions (Fig. 11 C–E). Hooks with long handle with small epiphyses, short blade and massive guard (Figs 7, 11E, F). Suckers round to slightly oval, with maximum diameter 60-90 (76, n = 79), bearing highly visible and very typical anterior semicircle of 12-17 (14.3, n = 109) hooks of similar shape as those of rostellum but with proportionally longer handle (Fig. 11A, B); epiphyses of sucker-hooks not always well marked but maybe conspicuous on handle (Fig. 11F); hooks of suckers up to 40 long, larger centrally and becoming gradually shorter (20-25) laterally (Fig. 11A B). Neck very short, formation of proglottides appears immediately behind scolex. Genital ducts dorsal to osmoregulatory canals. Genital pores alternating irregularly in short series, at border of first fifth of lateral proglottis margin.

Testes 16-22, rarely only 14 or up to 24 (19, n = 84) in number, disposed in entire median field reaching anterior proglottis margin and forming U-shaped field, with converging branches, often forming circle with one or two anterior testes linking the two lateral fields (Fig. 8), essentially in one layer, although some posterior testes may be superimposed; testes reaching up to 85 in diameter in late mature proglottides. Vas deferens coiled just at antiporal end of cirrus sac, often poorly visible but occasionally well-developed (up to 12 in diameter) and filling antero-central space. Cirrus-sac (Fig. 9) 90-137 × 50-77 (119 × 62, n = 55), ovoid, thin walled, anterior, with proximal extremity often touching anterior limit of proglottis, usually crossing poral osmoregulatory canals. Cirrus massive, armed with clearly visible spines (about 2 long) except on apex, 22-25 in diameter and reaching up to 145 long when evaginated. Internal vas deferens forming several coils.

Ovary central, small, compact, bilobed, anterior and dorsal to vitellarium. Vitellarium massive, central, compact, oval. Vagina posterior or ventral to cirrus pouch, straight, often dilated. Conductive part surrounded by thick but not dense cellular layer. Seminal receptacle oval, very large, commonly over 170 × 120, up to 217 × 160.

Young uterus saccular, becoming labyrinthic, filling space between osmoregulatory canals, containing a limited number (less than 200) of large eggs situated in 3 or 4 layers. Oncospheres ovoid, 29-37 × 19-25 (33 × 21.5, n = 21). Embryonic hooks 11-13 long (Fig. 10).

Remarks.

The new species is the type species of the newly erected monotypic genus Huinaylepis gen. n.

In 2005, the late Prof. Franco V. Bona (Torino) left his tapeworm collection to the MHNG. Among this rich material we found 35 slides of worms collected in Aphrastura spinicaudata and Pygarrhichas albogularis . All material was collected in the Valdivia Forest (about 250 km N of our study area) on 19-20 January 1985. On his accompanying notes, Bona noticed the interest of this material and indicated that it belonged to a new genus on some slides. Most of Bona’s specimens are juveniles, a few are mature and only a couple of proglottides are pregravid. We have examined all these slides and this materiel fully corresponds to Huinaylepis elegans sp. n. as described above. The only minor variations we noticed were two specimens with a slightly higher number of hooks than in the type series (36 and 38). These observations imply that H. elegans is probably more widespread in southern Chile than the few occurrences reported here may suggest. Over 30 species of Furnariidae are known in the country and, so far, have never been investigated for their parasites.

Cotylorhipis was a monotypic genus until Jadhav and Shinde (1981) described C. sureshi in domestic fowl from Aurangabad in India. Both the description and illustrations of this species are extremely succinct and of substandard quality. It is not even clear whether hooks reported by Jadhav and Shinde (1981) as "fanlike outgrowth", and illustrated by asterisks, are present on suckers or not! In addition, and according to B. Jadhav (personal communication to M. Oros), there is no type material for C. sureshi . The disjoint geographic distribution, unrelated host, as well as the few morphological details given by Jadhav and Shinde (1981) make it highly dubious that their material belongs to Cotylorhipis . There is no possibility of checking the validity or taxonomic position of the material described as Cotylorhipis sureshi , which must consequently be considered a species inquirenda.