Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea ( Leidy, 1875 ) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

Spratt, David M., 2011, New records of filarioid nematodes (Nematoda: Filarioidea) parasitic in Australasian monotremes, marsupials and murids, with descriptions of nine new species 2860, Zootaxa 2860 (1), pp. 1-61 : 30-33

Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

(Figs. 82–83)

Filaria spelaea Leidy, 1875, pp. 17–18 , from “Whallabee”, Australia; Johnston, 1909, p. 518, 519 ( Wallabia bicolor (= Macropus ualabatus )) (see confirmation of determination in Johnston & Mawson 1939b, p. 207).

Setaria (?) spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Railliet & Henry, 1911, p. 388 ; Thwaite 1927, p. 465.

Dipetalonema spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Johnston & Mawson, 1938a (not Baylis, 1934), pp. 114–117, figs. 20–24 ( Petrogale penicillata , Dendrolagus bennettianus (doubtful record, see Spratt & Varaughese 1975, p. 85)); Johnston & Mawson 1939b; Spratt & Varughese 1975, pp. 81–85, figs. 192–203 (“Kangaroo”).

Breinlia sp. A and Breinlia sp. B , Beveridge et al. 1992, p. 367 ( Onychogalea unguifera ).

Breinlia sp. nr. B. spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Begg et al. 1995, p. 47 ( Petrogale persephone Maynes ).

Breinlia spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Yeh, 1957, p. 202 ; Mackerras 1962, pp. 415–417, fig. 16; Beveridge et al. 1989, p. 278 ( Petrogale sharmani ) (syn. P. inornata Mt Claro race), P. inornata , P. herberti ).

Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea ( Leidy, 1875) Chabaud & Bain, 1976, p. 377 ; Spratt et al. 1991, p. 39, 41–44, 61–62, 69.

Filaria australis Linstow, 1897, p. 610 , pl. xxviii, figs. 6–7 ( Petrogale sp. ); Johnston, 1909 p. 519 ( Petrogale penicillata ).

Dipetalonema australe (Linstow) Boulenger, 1928, pp. 33–34 , figs. 1–5 ( Macropus sp. (= Halmaturus sp. )).

Type host. Type host and type locality unknown.

Other hosts. Onychogalea fraenata , Onychogalea unguifera , Petrogale assimilis Ramsay , Petrogale herberti Thomas , Petrogale inornata Gould , Petrogale mareeba Eldridge & Close , Petrogale penicillata (Gray) , Petrogale persephone Maynes , Petrogale sharmani Eldridge & Close ,? Dendrolagus bennettianus De Vis ;? Wallabia bicolor (Marsupialia: Macropodidae ).

Site in host. Peritoneal & pleural cavities.

Other material examined. From Petrogale assimilis: QLD : 2♀, ( N4460 ) Magnetic Island .

From Petrogale herberti: QLD : 4♀, ( N2289 ), 4♀, ( N3196 ) Yarraman Ck. nr. Nanango .

From Petrogale inornata: QLD : 2♂, 8♀, ( AHC 45874) Miles Ck., Boomerang Ra .; 1♀ fragment ( N2931 ) Sawmill Bay , Whitsunday Is .; 1♀ ( N4368 ) 82 km W Mackay at Eungella Nat. Pk .; 1♂ (1793) Mt. Nicholson , Rockhampton .

From Petrogale mareeba: QLD : 4♂, 3♀, ( N5123 ) Banggarra Station .

From Petrogale penicillata: QLD : 1♂, 5♀, ( N2290 ) Kinombi Falls nr. Goomeri ; 5♂, 9♀, ( QM G232525 ), 8 km S Yarraman Ck. nr. Nanango ; 1♂, 1♀, ( N5456 ) Hurdle Ck. nr. Mt. Colliery .

From Petrogale persephone: QLD : 1♀, ( N4366 ), 1♂, 9♀, ( QM G232531 ), 4♀, ( N4459 ), 1♂, 2♀, ( N4457 ), 3♂, 2♀, ( N4458 ) Proserpine. 1♀, ( N4109 ), 1♀, ( N4110 ) Shute Harbour .

From Petrogale sharmani: QLD : 1 ♂, 2♀, ( AHC 45873) Poison Ck .; 1♀, ( N1451 ) Lincoln Springs .

From Onychogalea fraenata: QLD : 1♀, ( N538 ) ; 1♀ ( N4364 ) Taunton , 1♂, ( N4370 ) , Idalia National Park .

From Onychogalea unguifera: QLD : 1♀, ( N1024 ) , 1♂, ( QM G232526 ) , 2♀, ( QM G232527 ) , 1♂, 5♀, ( QM G232528 ) , 1♀ ( N1031 ) Chadshunt Station ; 5♂, 12♀, ( AHC 45871) , 1♂, 4♀, ( QM G232529 ) , 1♀, ( N1030 ) , 1♂, 10♀, ( N1032 ) , 1♂, 4♀, ( QM G232530 ) , 1♀ ( N1034 ) Wernadinga Station .

Redescription of cephalic end in apical view from Petrogale sharmani . Oral opening small, bounded by delicate membrane. Cephalic extremity elongated laterally. Four pairs submedian papillae arranged in outer circle of four large and inner circle of four smaller papillae. Inconspicuous, square, inner cuticular peribuccal field present, joining bases of papillae of inner circle. Rectangular, outer cuticular peribuccal field present, formed by slight elevation of cuticle joining bases of papillae of outer circle. Distance between mediomedian papillae on lateral surfaces less than on dorsal and ventral surfaces. Internolateral papillae present, moderately robust, located on outer margin of inner cuticular peribuccal field. Amphids lateral, moderately large, opening through aperture at level of outer circle of papillae. Buccal capsule deep, narrow, with delicate wall and refractile, ring at its base.

Redescription of the microfilaria from vagina uterina, Petrogale inornata . Small hook apparent at anterior end. BL 232 (229–235). MW 4 (4–5) CS 4 (4–5). NR 68 (65–70). EV 105 (100–108). Innenkorper not observed. AV 143 (139–146). Body tapering behind anal vesicle. Nuclear column terminating in single row of 5 nuclei. Tail filamentous. LNT 48 (46–50). Microfilaria unsheathed. Site in host unknown.

Distribution and hosts. Breinlia (B.) spelaea is known predominantly from rock wallabies and nail-tail wallabies in central and northern Queensland. The record of a single male of this species from Wallabia bicolor in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales by Johnston (1911) and re-examination of the original specimen and confirmation of it belonging to Leidy’s species by Johnston and Mawson (1939b) is a conundrum. The wherabouts of the specimen is unknown. There is a bottle with material determined by Johnston and Mawson in 1938 as Breinlia spealea but no other associated data including most importantly, the host. It is more likely that this record represents B. (B.) mundayi , given the common occurrence of this species in this host in southeastern Australia and that all other records of B. (B.) spelaea reported here are from rock and nail-tail wallabies in Queensland.

Remarks. The cephalic end and microfilaria of B. (B.) spelaea is redescribed and illustrated here given the poor material available previously for description and that microfilariae were unknown from females associated with characteristic males ( Spratt & Varughese 1975).

Morphometrically, this is a highly variable species of Breinlia (Breinlia) both between genera and species of hosts and within a single host individual (Table 3, 4). Greatest variation occurs in the length and width of the body, the length of muscular and glandular portions of oesophagus and the length of the tail in males and females, size of spicules particularly left spicule and the lengths of calomus, lamina and particularly filament of left spicule in males, and distance of vulva from anterior end in females. Spicule ratio varies considerably in species of Petrogale from 1:3.6 to 1:4.6 although this was not observed in Onychogalea unguifera (1:4.2). The lower range of this ratio is close to that of B. (B.) thylogale , 1:3.5, although left 430(400–440) and right 120(110–150) spicules of this species are less than half as long as those of B. (B.) spelaea . Two particular features of the species are characteristic. Firstly, the four large submedian cephalic papillae of the outer circle are prominent in lateral, dorsal and ventral views and rather posterior in position in both sexes. Second, the tail tip terminates in a pair of phasmids on the ventral surface and a complex of papilliforme structures in males, and in pair of blunt, subterminal, latero-ventral papillae and terminal structure, possibly not a papilla, located immediately posterior and to the right of the lateroventral papilla in females (see Spratt & Varughese 1975 Figs. 199, 201, 202). Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea is most similar to B. (B.) trichosuri from the peritoneal cavity of brushtail possums, Trichosurus vulpecula , in Queensland and B. (B.) macropi from the peritoneal cavity of the quokka, Setonix brachyurus , on Rottnest Island, Western Australia. The left spicule of both species is shorter than that of B. (B.) spelaea , although there is slight overlap in B. (B.) macropi , 710 (670–810). The right spicule of B. (B.) spelaea is shorter than that of B. (B.) trichosuri , 340 (310–370) and slightly shorter than that of B. (B.) macropi , 240 (230–240), although there is slight overlap. Breinlia (B.) trichosuri is further distinguished from both B. (B.) spelaea and B. (B.) macropi by the presence of a pair of minute internolateral papillae located on the oral margin of the large, elevated amphids. Internolateral papillae in both B. (B.) macropi and B. (B.) spelaea are large and located anterior to the non–elevated amphids. All three species exhibit considerable variation in the position of the vulva well posterior to the oesophago–intestinal junction and the length of the tail in female worms.

In the absence of molecular data on these filarioids from rock wallabies and nail-tail wallabies they are all placed as Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea . Excellent accounts of the confusion associated with this species and with B. (B.) trichosuri are given by Johnston and Mawson (1938a) and Mackerras (1962).