Glypthelmins shastai Ingles, 1936

León, Pérez-Ponce De, 2008, Taxonomic revision of the genus Glypthelmins Stafford, 1905 (Platyhelminthes: Digenea: Plagiorchiida), parasites of anurans in the Americas, Zootaxa 1882, pp. 1-45 : 26-28

Glypthelmins shastai Ingles, 1936

( Fig. 16 )

Margeana shastai , Cheng (1959: 80, 82– 84) Plate 3, Fig. 1 [Re-establishment of the genus Margeana and transference of G. shastai to this genus]; Glypthelmins linguatula, Nasir & Diaz (1970: 263) [Sinonimizes G. shastai with G. l i n - guatula].

Taxonomic summary

Type-host: Bufo boreas .

Habitat: Intestine.

Type-locality: Glenburn, Shasta County, California U.S.A. Type specimens deposition: USNPC 8925.

Diagnosis: This species possess a cirrus pouch that is straight and larger than those present in the other species. Additionally, pharynx is smaller or equal to the ventral sucker, testes oblique, uterus intercaecal, and vitelline follicles distributed from the level of the genital pore to the post-testicular region, and are not confluent.

Description: Body oval to elongated, with round posterior and anterior ends. Scale-like spines present on body tegument, from the level of oral sucker to the posterior third of body. Oral sucker subterminal and rounded. Ventral sucker rounded, smaller than oral sucker, preequatorial. Oral sucker/ventral sucker diameter ratio 1:0.75. Mouth opens in the middle of oral sucker. Prepharynx short. Pharynx small, muscular, ovoid, surrounded by small medial glands. Oesophagus long, surrounded by gland cells. Caeca narrow, and extends posteriorly to almost reach the end of body. Testes oval, with smooth borders, contiguous, oblique, and located at mid-level of body. Right testis slightly anterior to left testis, overlapping slightly the ceca. Cirrus pouch welldeveloped, large, straight, dorsal to ventral sucker, containing a bi-partite seminal vesicle, prostatic gland and a long and unarmed cirrus. Cirrus opening into the genital pore is located between the anterior border of the ventral sucker and caecal bifurcation. The ovary rounded to oval, located sinistrally to the ventral sucker. Seminal receptacle almost rounded, and located between the ovary and right testis. Uterus coiled, entirely intercaecal. Uterine loops transversally arranged, extending posteriorly to the end of body. No uterine loops are found in the pre-testicular region. In the testicular region uterus is ventral to testes. Muscular metraterm dorsal to cirrus pouch, slightly curved, opens into the genital pore. Vitelline gland follicular, and the follicles distributed in two fields along the caeca, from the level of the genital pore to the region between the posterior end of testes and the end of caeca. Follicles in the intercaecal region are located dorsally and ventrally to testes, but are not confluent. Eggs operculated, 41–46 µm long by 14–17 µm wide. Excretory vesicle “I” shaped extending to the level of left testis. Excretory pore terminal.

Host, geographic distribution and specimen deposition

Bufo boreas : Canada: Gorge Creek, R. B. Miller Biological Station; 60 km SW of Calgary, Alberta; Nelson, British Columbia, (Holmes, pers. comm in O´ Grady, 1987). U.S.A.: Shasta County, California ( Ingles, 1936: 81); “ U.S.A. ” ( Walton 1938: 8). Specimen deposition: USNPC 8925; HWML 23661.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic hypothesis of Razo-Mendivil et al. (2006) showing the placement of Glypthelmins, Rauschiella and Choledocystus within the Plagiorchiforms. The Glypthelmins clade is marked in red.

FIGURE 16. Mature specimen of Glypthelmins shastai Ingles, 1936, ventral view ex Bufo boreas, California, U. S. A. (USNPC 8925). Scale bar = 0.3 mm.