Kapsulotaenia Freze, 1963

Chambrier, Alain De, Brabec, Jan & Scholz, Tomáš, 2020, Molecular data reveal unexpected species diversity of tapeworms of Australasian reptiles: revision of Kapsulotaenia (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae), Zootaxa 4869 (4), pp. 529-561 : 533-534

Kapsulotaenia Freze, 1963 —amended diagnosis

Syns. Kapsulotaenia Freze, 1965 , Capsulotaenia Freze, 1963

Diagnosis. Proteocephalidae , Acanthotaeniinae . Strobila acraspedote, anapolytic, with mature, pregravid and gravid proglottids usually longer or much longer than wide. Scolex with four uniloculate suckers and conical or domeshaped rostellum devoid of hooks, usually containing apical organ, covered with large spiniform microtriches; retractor muscles connecting rostellum with neck present. Inner longitudinal musculature weakly developed or indistinguishable; as a result, proglottids easy to detach. Testes medullary, in 2 lateral fields; field may be confluent anteriorly. Cirrus usually armed (covered with spinitriches) or, allegedly, unarmed. Genital pore in all but one species postequatorial. Ovary medullary, folliculate, butterfly-shaped, near posterior margin of proglottids. Position of vagina in relation to cirrus-sac variable, usually posterior and anterior, sometimes only posterior to cirrus-sac; small, ring-like vaginal sphincter present or absent. Mehlis’ gland small. Vitelline follicles not numerous, in 2 narrow lateral bands, may reach almost anterior and/or posterior margin of proglottids. Uterine development 1 according to de Chambrier et al. (2004). Uterine stem narrow and long in immature proglottids, only exceptionally reaching posterior to ovarian isthmus. Uterus with short, wide lateral diverticula reaching anterior margin of proglottids. Eggs grouped in oval or banana-shaped capsules in uterus.

Parasites of varanid lizards (one species in a python) in the Australasian region.

Type species. Kapsulotaenia sandgroundi ( Carter, 1943) Freze, 1963 .

Remarks. The genus was first proposed by Freze (1963) to accommodate acanthotaeniine tapeworms from monitor lizards that possess eggs in capsules and an allegedly large Mehlis’ gland. Freze (1963) misspelled the genus name as Capsulotaenia in its diagnosis, but name Kapsulotaenia appears in the remaining text and also in Freze’s (1965) monograph on the Proteocephalidea . Interestingly, Freze (1965) listed this genus here again as a new (“ KAPSULOTAENIA g. nov. ”), ignoring his own paper published two years earlier ( Freze 1963). All subsequent authors including Schmidt (1986), Rego (1994) and de Chambrier et al. (2015, 2017) recognized the genus as valid and used the correct spelling and year of taxon erection, i.e., Kapsulotaenia Freze, 1963 .

Life cycles of acanthotaeniine cestodes have never been elucidated, just Baylis (1929) described a plerocercoid found in the liver of a toad, Oreophryne sp., from Dutch New Guinea (= Indonesian New Guinea). Based on the size of the scolex and geographical origin of larvae, he assumed that the larvae belonged to Acanthotaenia biroi ( von Rátz, 1900) .