Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei ( 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 : 43-45

Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei ( Spratt & Varughese, 1975) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

( Figs. 78–81 )

Johnstonema woerlei Spratt & Varughese, 1975, pp. 17–20 , figs. 13–20, from Petrogale brachyotis (syn. Petrogale venustula ) Cannon Hill, Northern Territory.

Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei (Spratt & Varughese) Chabaud & Bain, 1976, p. 378 ; Spratt et al. 1991, p. 38, 69.

Type host. Petrogale brachyotis (Gould) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae ).

Site in host. Right ventricle and pulmonary arteries, lungs.

Female and microfilariae undescribed.

Other material examined. From right ventricle Petrogale brachyotis: NT : 1♀ ( N428 ) , from lung cysts and right ventricle, ♀♀ fragments ( N3 ), ( AHC 45885), ( N5 ) Mt. Borradaile ; 1♂ anterior & posterior, 4♀ ( QM G232536 ) , 3♀ ( AHC 45886) , 1♀ ( AHC 45887) Narbalek .

Differential diagnosis. Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei is distinguished from the other species in the subgenus B. (J.) annulipapillata (syn. B. (J.) andersoni ) by the much larger size of males and females, the greater lengths of spicules in males, the clearly divided oesophagus and longer tail in females and the tissue location in the hosts.

Description. General: Very long, exceptionally broad nematodes with markedly attenuated cephalic and caudal ends. Without cervical dilatation. Oral opening and cephalic extremity as described for males ( Spratt & Varughese, 1975, p.18). Buccal capsule minute, with refractile ring at its base in males, not detected in females. Oesophagus divided into anterior muscular and posterior glandular regions. Excreteory pore not observed. Cuticle with prominent transverse annulations spaced at approximately 16 µm in males, 23 µm in females, longitudinally elongate, refractile cuticular bosses present in males, absent in females. Spicules long, stout, subequal, of complex, dissimilar morphology, heavily sclerotised. Deirids and phasmids not observed.

Male: (one anterior and one posterior fragment from P. brachyotis ). MW 630. NR 249. MO 450, GO 1060. LS 609, not distinctly divided into calomus, lamina and filament, navicular, with in–rolled edges and bluntly rounded distal extremity. RS 450, tubular proximally, with spatulate distal extremity. T 2120, curved ventrally, with 2 pairs papillae, an asymmetric pair ventrally 162 µm from tail tip and a terminal pair. Cloacal papillae 10 in number, not restricted to cloacal region.

Female: (Measurements of complete specimen presented first in italics followed by mean and range of fragments of 8 others). BL 162 mm, longest fragment 260 mm. MW 948, 1106 (948–1264) in mid–body. NR 1 98, 268 (185–345). MO 345, 464 (371–556), GO 954, 1272(1166–1590), oesophago–intestinal junction sometimes hidden by anterior loops of uterus and/or vagina filled with microfilariae. V 6162, 6241 (5530–6952) from anterior extremity. T 1457, 1290–1930, markedly attenuated, with two, large latero–ventral papillae and pair of small median terminal papillae.

Microfilaria (5 specimens from uterus). BL 221 (216–223) long. MW 6 (5–6). Tail tapering, filamentous terminally. Unsheathed. Site in host unknown.

Distribution and hosts. Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei is known only from Petrogale brachyotis from the Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory.

Remarks. Spratt and Varughese (1975) described and illustrated only the male of B. (J.) woerlei from Petrogale brachyotis (syn. P. venustula ).This is the first description of the female of the species, one of the largest filarioids known from one of the smallest macropodid marsupials and rivalling in size Breinlia (Breinlia) ventricola Spratt & Hobbs, 2003 from the right ventricle and pulmonary arteries of the largest macropodid marsupial, the red kangaroo, Macropus rufus , in the southern Pilbara region of Western Australia. While there have been no studies of the pathological effects of these nematodes on their rock wallaby hosts, their location in the right ventricle and pulmonary arteries as well as in cysts in the lungs must have a profound effect on the function of these organs. As Spratt and Hobbs (2003) noted in their discussion of B. (B.) ventricola in red kangaroos, it is expected that many aspects of the pathology seen in canine dirofilariasis would occur in rock wallabies infected with B. (J.) woerlei , including pulmonary hypertension, impaired heart valve function and physical blockage ( Knight 1977). To date, only females have been recovered from lung cysts.

Figures

FIGURES 78–81. Breinlia (Johnstonema) woerlei (Spratt & Varughese, 1975) Chabaud & Bain, 1976. 78, Vulva and vagina uterina, lateral view. 79. Anterior end female, lateral view. 80, Caudal end female, ventral view. 81, Posterior end female, lateral view. FIGURES 82–83. Breinlia (Breinlia) spelaea (Leidy, 1875) Chabaud & Bain, 1974. 82, Microfilaria from vagina uterina of Petrogale inornata. 83, Cephalic end, apical view, from Petrogale sharmani. FIGURE 84. Breinlia (Breinlia) pseudocheiri (Spratt & Varughese, 1975) Chabaud & Bain, 1976. 84, Caudal end female from Petauroides volans. Scale bars: Figs. 78, 79, 81 = 500 µm, Fig. 80 = 50 µm, Figs. 82–84 = 20 µm.