Australophiotaenia gallardi (Johnston, 1911) n. comb. — type species

Syns Ichthyotaenia sp. of Johnston (1910); Proteocephalus gallardi Johnston, 1911; Acanthotaenia gallardi (Johnston, 1911) Johnston, 1913; Crepidobothrium gallardi (Johnston, 1911) Meggitt, 1927; Ophiotaenia gallardi (Johnston, 1911) Freze, 1965

Type and probably only host. Red-bellied black snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus (Shaw, 1794) ( Ophidia: Elapidae).

Site of infection. Intestine.

Type locality. Gippsland, Victoria, Australia (37°51'S, 147°35'E).

Distribution. Australia (New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria).

References. Johnston (1911, 1912, 1913), Zehnder and Mariaux (1999), de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010), Scholz et al. (2013).

Material studied. See de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010), who designated lectotype (QM G12/110).

Redescription. See de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010).

Remarks. This species was described as Proteocephalus gallardi by Johnston (1911) based on tapeworms found by A. S. Le Soeuf in red-bellied black snake ( Pseudechis porphyriacus) in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. However, de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010), who studied the type material of the species, revealed that a mixture of two markedly distinct species from two different genera was used for the original description of P. gallardi (= A. gallardi). They redescribed A. gallardi, designated lectotype and paralectotypes, and proposed a new genus, Vandiermenia, to accommodate the second, new species, V. beveridgei de Chambrier and de Chambrier, 2010 .

Johnston (1912, 1913) reported A. gallardi also from three other venomous snakes in the vicinity of Sydney, namely Notechis scutatus (Peters, 1861), Denisonia superba (Günther, 1858) [now Austrelaps superbus (Günther, 1858)] and Pseudechis australis (Gray, 1842) . However, de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) questioned the identification of these cestodes as A. gallardi . Tapeworms from N. scutatus represent a new, yet undescribed species designated here as Australophiotaenia sp. 2 (see below). Zehnder and Mariaux (1999) presented sequences of lsr DNA and rrn L of this putative new species, whereas Scholz et al. (2013) provided sequences of ssr DNA, lsr DNA, rrn L and cox 1 of A. gallardi (KC786014, KC786025, KC786003 and KC785990, respectively) from the type host, P. porphyriacus in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (host field No. AUS 7—paragenophore as MHNG- PLAT 36550).

Australophiotaenia gallardi can be distinguished from congeners in reptiles in Australia by the following characteristics: a large strobila (375–400 mm), the presence of an apical organ, low number of the testes (67–103) and a large embryophore (diameter of 37–40 µm).