Kapsulotaenia frezei Schmidt & Kuntz, 1974

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 : 535-536

3. Kapsulotaenia frezei Schmidt & Kuntz, 1974

( Fig. 3A, D )

Type and only known host. Asian water monitor, Varanus ‘ salvator ’ (Laurenti, 1768) (correctly identified later as Varanus palawanensis Koch, Gaulke & Böhme, 2010 —see Welton et al. 2014) ( Squamata : Varanidae ).

Site of infection. Small intestine.

Type locality. Terabanon Concepcion , 73 km north of Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, Philippines .

Additional localities. Not known.

Type material. Holotype ( USNM 1368496 ), paratype ( USNM 1368497 ).

Material studied. Holotype (11 fragments of one specimen) from V. ‘ salvator ’ collected by R. E. Kuntz on 16.v.1962.

Morphological description (see Table 2 for measurements): Strobila relatively short (total length of 40 mm). Scolex rounded, covered with small spines, as wide as neck, with small rostellum containing apical organ. Retractor muscles not observed. Testes ovoid, in one layer and two lateral fields, interrupted porally by cirrus-sac and vagina. Vas deferens convoluted, in anterior median field. Cirrus-sac ovoid; cirrus armed with small spines (spinitriches). Ovary butterfly-shaped. Vagina opens posterior or anterior to cirrus-sac. Genital pore irregularly alternating, preequatorial. Vitelline follicles in two lateral bands, not reaching anterior margin of proglottids but reach almost to their posterior part. Vitelline follicles interrupted at level of cirrus-sac on ventral side. Uterine stem without lateral diverticula, reaching anterior and posterior margins of proglottids. Eggs in banana-shaped clusters.

Remarks. Kapsulotaenia frezei was differentiated from the species of the genus recognized at the time, i.e., K. saccifera ( von Rátz, 1900) , K. sandgroundi and K. tidswelli ( Johnston, 1909) , by the low number of the testes (45– 60), large size of the suckers (diameter of 190–200 μm) and an elongate-oval cirrus-sac ( Schmidt & Kuntz 1974). Similar to K. saccifera , this species possesses elongate, banana-shaped egg clusters 680–690 μm long and 65–70 μm wide, containing about 90– 100 eggs ( Schmidt & Kuntz 1974). In fact, K. frezei differs most conspicuously from K. saccifera by the pre-equatorial position of the genital pore (markedly postequatorial in K. saccifera —see Fig. 3G ) and the uterus occupying all length of proglottids.

A study of the holotype of K. frezei made it possible to add missing data on the morphology of the scolex, which was illustrated very schematically in the original description. Here, we provide a scolex illustration and the first drawing of gravid proglottids with banana-shaped capsules with eggs to document this unique feature present only in two species of Kapsulotaenia . In addition, K. frezei differs from the remaining species of Kapsulotaenia by the pre-equatorial position of the genital pore (always post-equatorial in other species) and the posterior extent of the uterine stem, which reaches to the posterior margin of proglottids (only to the level of the ovarian isthmus in the remaining species—see Table 2 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Kapsulotaenia frezei from Varanus palawanensis, Philippines (holotype USNM 1368496) (A, D), Kapsulotaenia pythonis (Wahid, 1968) from Morelia viridis, Zoological garden (syntype NHMUK 1998.10.12.18–22) (B, E, F), and Kapsulotaenia saccifera (von Rátz, 1900) from Varanus sp., Papua-New Guinea (syntype MHNG-PLAT-36037) (C, G). A–C—scolex; D, G—gravid proglottids with banana-shaped capsules with eggs, ventrally; E—mature proglottid, dorsally; F—terminal genitalia, dorsally.