Breinlia (Breinlia) boltoni ( Spratt & Varughese, 1975 ) 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 : 12

Breinlia (Breinlia) boltoni ( Spratt & Varughese, 1975) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

Dipetalonema boltoni Spratt & Varughese, 1975, pp. 70–74 , figs. 155–167, ( Macropus agilis ) Townsville West, Queensland.

Breinlia (Breinlia) boltoni (Spratt & Varughese) Chabaud & Bain, 1976, p. 377 ; Spratt et al. 1991, p. 34, 49, 68 ( Aepyprymnus rufescens ).

Breinlia boltoni (Spratt & Varughese) Beveridge et al. 1992, p. 367 .

Type host. Macropus agilis (Gould) .

Other hosts. Aepyprymnus rufescens (Marsupialia: Potoroidae ), Lagorchestes conspicillatus Gould , Onychogalea unguifera (Marsupialia: Macropodidae ).

Site in host. Pleural & peritoneal cavities, liver serosa.

Other material examined. From Macropus agilis: QLD : 1♂, ( N504 ) , 1♂, 2♀, ( N1723 ) Inkerman Station ; 7♀, ( N660 ) , 5♂, 6♀, ( QM G232513 ) , 6♂, 24♀, ( AHC 45848) Townsville ; 1♂, 1♀, ( N835 ) Coen ; 1♂, 5♀, ( N834 ) Ingham ; 3♀, ( N659 ) Yabulu ; 2♀ ( N2681 ) Floraville Downs Station . NT : 1♂, 6♀, ( N26 ) Tipperary Station ; 1♀, ( N5223 ) Mudginberri , 1♂, 2♀, ( N5401 ) Stuart Highway, 7km N Mataranka ; 1♂, 1♀ ( N1049 ), Jabiluka ; 2♀ ( N4361 ) Katherine ; 1♂, 1♀, ( N72 ) , 1♂, 4♀, ( N74 ) , 5♀, ( N73 ) Marrakai Plains . PNG : 1♀, ( N75 ) Waigani Campus, Port Moresby ; 3♀, ( N1445 ) Balamuk Bensbach Western Province ; 5♀, ( N4629 ) Bula Plain Bensbach Western Province .

From Aepyprymnus rufescens: QLD : 10♀, ( N1304 ) Airsville; 2♂, 2♀, ( N871 ) , 1♂, 1♀ ( N590 ) , 2♂, ( N591 ) Inkerman Station ; 2♂, 2♀, ( N587 ) (captive bred) Pallarenda; 2♂, ( N703 ) Townsville; 1♂, 1♀, ( N835 ) Coen; 6♂, 24♀, ( N5217 ) Aitkenvale, Townsville.

From Lagorchestes conspicillatus: QLD : 3♂, 4♀, ( N1305 ) Bohle, 1♀, ( N4461 ) (captive) Pallarenda .

From Onychogalea unguifera NT : 1♂, 3♀, ( N1641 ) Elliot .

Distribution and hosts. Breinlia (B.) boltoni is a parasite of one species in the family Potoroidae and three members of the Macropodidae in north Queensland, the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.

Remarks. Breinlia (B.) boltoni is very similar to B. (B) mundayi . However, in females in particular the presence of refractile cuticular bosses over the lateral lines in B. (B.) boltoni and the absence of bosses in female B. (B.) mundayi distinguish them. This feature has been confirmed by dissection of a number of specimens of both species. The former species is further distinguished from the latter by the generally greater lengths of males and females, more posterior position of the vulva, presence of one pair of minute ventrolateral papillae on the caudal extremity of females, larger lateromedian papillae and amphids in apical view and shorter microfilariae, with shorter distance between the last nucleus and the tail tip.

In addition, there is no overlap of host species between the parasite species, B. (B.) boltoni being predominantly a parasite of northern macropodoid species and B. (B.) mundayi of southern members of the family Macropodidae . The only two records of the latter from northern latitudes at Einasleigh and at Airlie Beach, Queensland, both occurred in Wallabia bicolor , the most common southern host and one in which B. (B.) boltoni has not been observed.

A feature of infection with both species is the preponderance of female worms, often the sole sex recovered. The most striking example was the 55 females recovered from the liver serosa of an agile wallaby from Marrakai Plains. The uteri of most of these females were filled with microfilariae, suggesting that males are much shorter lived than females.