Guerrerostrongylus zetta (Travassos 1937)

Site of infection. small intestine

Collection number. MLP-He7350

Host species. Oligoryzomys nigripes . CG190

Localities. CAMB, RVSU and PPU

Comments. The morphological characters observed in the specimens agree with the original description and subsequent redescriptions given by Travassos (1937) and e.g. Digiani et al. (2012), i.e. synlophe with numerous (ca. 40) subequal ridges, ellipsoidal caudal bursa with hypertrophied and divided at mid-length dorsal ray, very long rays 6, well-sclerotized and usually strongly twisted thin spicules and SpL/BL of 9.8–21.6%.

Guerrerostrongylus zetta was originally described by Travassos (1937) as Longistriata zetta from the small intestine of a “rato rapé” (no specific name) in Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brazil. Afterward it was transferred to Hassalstrongylus and then to Guerrerostrongylus (Durette-Desset; 1971; Sutton & Durette-Desset, 1991). The host list in Brazil comprises Nectomys squamipes, Cerradomys subflavus (Wagner, 1842), O. nigripes and Galea spixii (Wagler, 1831), Akodon cursor and E. russatus (Pinto et al. 1982; Gomes et al. 2003). Its geographical range was extended to Rio de Janeiro by Simões et al. (2011, 2012b) (in A. cursor and O. nigripes) and to Rio Grande do Sul by de Werk et al. (2016) (in O. nigripes).

In Argentina, Digiani et al. (2012) found G. zetta parasitizing O. nigripes from Reserva UNLP, Valle del Arroyo Cuña Pirú, Aristóbulo del Valle, and Reserva Privada de Vida Silvestre Urugua-í, Misiones province, Argentina. Based on this material and on the type specimens housed in the Helminthological Collection of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (CHIOC), these authors emended the description of the species taking into account the description of the synlophe, and assigned N. squamipes as the type host.