Breinlia (Breinlia) macropi ( Wahid, 1962 ) 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 : 16

Breinlia (Breinlia) macropi ( Wahid, 1962) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

Breinlia macropi Wahid, 1962, pp. 207–210 , figs. 1–4, liver surface ( Setonix brachyurus ) (as Macropus brachyurus ) Rottnest Is. Western Australia.

Dipetalonema macropi (Wahid) Spratt & Varughese, 1975, pp. 78–81 , figs. 180–191.

Breinlia (Breinlia) macropi (Wahid) Chabaud & Bain , p. 377; Spratt et al. 1991, p. 51, 68.

Type host. Setonix brachyurus (Quoy & Gaimard) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae ).

Other hosts. Macropus irma (Jourdan) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae ), Potorous gilbertii (Gould) (Marsupialia: Potoroidae ).

Site in host: peritoneal and pleural cavities.

Other material examined. From Setonix brachyurus: WA 5♂, 8♀ ( N268 ), 1♂, 1♀ ( N444 ), 3♀ ( N445 ), 5♂, 8♀ ( N1565 ), Rottnest Island .

From Macropus eugenii: WA : 2♀ ( N267 ) Garden Is .; 2♀, ( N256 ) Murdoch University Yards, Murdoch .

From Macropus irma: WA : 1♂ anterior, 2♀ ( N443 ), 1♀ ( N1678 ) Jandakot .

From Potorous gilbertii: WA : 2♂, 4♀ (Murdoch University Parasitology X 04/08C) Two People’s Bay .

Distribution and hosts. Breinlia (B.) macropi appears to be a filarioid of macropodids and potoroids in southern Western Australia.

Remarks. Five male specimens (N1565) from one S. brachyurus each had 9 cloacal papillae but with a distinctly different arrangement pre–, ad– and post–cloacal aperture. Spratt and Varughese (1975) noted that one male exhibited a very long left spicule, the extra length occurring in the calomus and filament. Two males in this current series exhibited an extra long left spicule, in both cases the extra length occurring in the lamina and filament.

Length of spicules of 4 male B. (B.) macropi from an individual Setonix brachyurus Rottnest Island, Western Australia were as follows: right spicule: 222, 205, 225, 217; left spicule: 644, 647, 735, 709; calomus: 270, 270, 270, 270; lamina 127, 127, 165, 162; filament: 247, 250, 300, 277.

Yen (1983) surveyed a total of 203 quokkas from 8 populations on Rottnest Island and found a seroprevalence of B. (B.) macropi infection of 93% (83–100%) and average rate of microfilaraemia of 46.8% (33–61%). He found Aedes camptorhynchus (Thomson) serving as natural intermediate host and vector of this filarioid with a prevalence of infection of 22% amongst 210 wild–caught mosquitoes examined from the island. Aedes ashworthi Edwards was susceptible to infection experimentally.

The specimens from Macropus irma are very similar to B. (B.) macropi but in the absence of complete males are here tentatively recognised as this species.

A single female (N507) from the peritoneal cavity of Dendrolagus lumholtzi, Herberton, Qld. is very similar to females of B. (B.) macropi however, in the absence of males and given the distant geographic locality from other records of this filarioid species in Western Australia, the author cannot be confident of specific identification. Measurements were as follows; L 120mm, MW 451, NR 249, M Oes 980, Gl Oes 1802, V 8279, T 1532. This represents the longest oesophagus and most posterior position of the vulva of any species of Breinlia (Breinlia) known from hosts in Australia and Papua New Guinea.