Harrahium Witenberg, 1926

Dronen, Norman O. & Blend, Charles K., 2015, Updated keys to the genera in the subfamilies of Cyclocoelidae Stossich, 1902, including a reconsideration of species assignments, species keys and the proposal of a new genus in Szidatitreminae Dronen, 2007, Zootaxa 4053 (1), pp. 1-100 : 38-39

Harrahium Witenberg, 1926

(Members of this genus have a prepharyngeal genital pore and the vitelline fields are not confluent posteriorly) ( Table 9 )

Diagnosis. Cyclocoelidae ; Haematotrephinae. Body lanceolate to linguiform; oral sucker present in some species; rudimentary ventral sucker usually absent. Genital pore prepharyngeal. Ovary pretesticular, anterior to or opposite to anterior testis, forming triangle with oblique testes near posterior arch of the cyclocoel. Uterine coils overreaching ceca laterally, most commonly in posterior two thirds of body, usually approaching body wall, not invading posttesticular space. Vitelline fields not confluent posteriorly. Parasites in air sacs, lungs, and infraorbital and nasal sinuses of scolopacid birds.

Remarks. Although Yamaguti (1971) considered Harrahium to be a valid genus, several authors considered it to be synonymous with either Cyclocoelum Stossich, 1902 or Haematotrephus Stossich, 1902 (e.g. Joyeux & Baer 1927; Dollfus 1948; Bashkirova 1950; Feizullaev 1950). More recently, Kanev et al. (2002a) and Dronen (2007a) considered it to be a synonym of Haematotrephus . Given that Harrahium halli ( Harrah, 1922) and Harrhium tringae ( Brandes, 1892) n. comb. have a pretesticular ovary that forms a triangle with the testes (Haematotrephinae) and a prepharyngeal genital pore, both might be placed in Neohaematotrephus except that the vitelline fields of these two species are not confluent posteriorly rather than being confluent, and must therefore be assigned to Harrahium , as originally suggested by Witenberg (1926). However, there has been some concern expressed by previous authors about the intraspecific variability of this characteristic (e.g. Stunkard 1929; Johnston & Simpson 1940; Dubois 1959; Macko & Feige 1960; Macko 1964, 1969; Dubois 1965; Macko et al. 2011) and we would suggest that any specimens in Haematotrephinae be compared to the two species of Harrahium and all the species of Neohaematotrephus until this question is resolved.