Polymorphus fulicai, Birmani, Nadir Ali, Dharejo, Ali Murtaza & Khan, Muhammad Munif, 2011

Birmani, Nadir Ali, Dharejo, Ali Murtaza & Khan, Muhammad Munif, 2011, A new species of Polymorphus Lühe, 1911 (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) in Black Coot, Fulica atra (Aves: Rallidae), Pakistan, Zootaxa 2929, pp. 64-68 : 64-67

Polymorphus fulicai , n. sp.

Figs (1–8)

Diagnosis. Body in both sexes spinose, thick, fusiform. Proboscis globular, double walled. Neck long cylindrical. Proboscis receptacle cylindrical, double walled. Body of female worms filled with ovarian balls and eggs scattered in entire body up to proboscis receptacle. Second quarter of trunk in both sexes covered with small spines, distributed equally on ventral and dorsal surfaces in 46 longitudinal rows of 16 spines each; spines 0.03 mm long. Proboscis armed with 19 longitudinal rows of 8 hooks each. Basal hooks and apical hooks smaller in size than middle ones. Cement glands four, cylindrical. The new species differs from its congeners on the basis of distribution of cuticular spines, number of longitudinal rows of hooks, number of hooks per row, size of hooks, smaller lemnisci and oblique testes.

Description ( Table 1).

Host. Black Coot, Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 (Aves: Rallidae )

Site of infection. Intestine

Etymology. Specific name refers to generic name of the host.

Remarks. Lühe (1911) proposed Polymorphus to accommodate acanthocephalans from birds, establishing the type species as P. boschadis (Schrank, 1788) Railliet, 1919 , later recognized as a synonym of P. minutus (Goeze, 1782) Lühe, 1911 . Several members of genus have been reported from birds, including the following species:

P. trochus Van Cleave, 1945 ; differs from the present species in having a larger body in both sexes, a pear shaped proboscis of females much inflated at the base, a swollen trunk, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks, the number of hooks per row and larger eggs.

Male: Female:

Entire worm 2.81–2.95 Entire worm 2.53–2.85

Trunk 2.17–2.21 x 0.56–0.62 Trunk 1.95–2.21 x 0.56–0.68 Proboscis 0.26–0.30 x 0.16–0.18 Proboscis 0.24 x 0.15–0.16 Neck 0.38–0.43 x 0.32–0.33 Neck 0.33–0.40 x 0.30–0.32 Proboscis receptacle 0.43–0.57 x 0.12–0.16 Proboscis receptacle 0.32–0.50 x 0.15–0.17 Lemnisci 0.50–0.60 Lemnisci 0.40–0.60

Spinose area of trunk 0.56–0.58 x 0.55–0.56 Spinose area of trunk 0.57–0.58 x 0.54–0.68 Anterior testis 0.22–0.27 x 0.13–0.18 Ovarian balls 0.06–0.11 x 0.04–0.07 Posterior testis 0.21–0.26 x 0.15–0.18 Eggs 34– 71 x 10–15

P. cucullatus Van Cleave et Starrett, 1940 collected from the hooded merganser , Lophodytes cucullatus ; differs from the present species in having larger body, a short neck, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (22), the number of hooks per row (12), the size of the hooks, lemnisci twice as long as the proboscis receptacle and in the distribution of cuticular spines.

P. a c u t i s Van Cleave et Starrett, 1940; differs from the present species in having a larger body, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (16) and the number of hooks per row (11–12).

P. magnus Skrjabin, 1913 ; differs from the present species in having a larger body in both sexes, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks, the number of hooks per row and larger eggs.

P. spindlatus Amin and Heckmann, 1991 collected from the black crowned night heron, Nycticorax nyticorax ; differs from the present species in having a larger body in both sexes, a spindle shaped proboscis, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (8), the number of hooks per row (11–13), the shape of the trunk, and the distribution of cuticular spines.

P. minutus (Goeze, 1782) Lühe, 1911 collected from Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos ; differs from the present species in having a larger body, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (16–18), and the number of hooks per row (6– 8).

P. m a r i l i s Van Cleave, 1939 collected from Nyroca marila, Microplama himantopus, Anas p. platyrhynchos , Nyroca affinis , Clangula, Pseudotadorna and Phalacrocorax ; differs from the present species in having a larger body in both sexes, a longer neck, the shape of the proboscis, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (16–17), and the number of hooks per row (7–8).

P. o b t u s u s Van Cleave, 1918 collected from water turkey, Anhinga anhinga, and great blue heron, Ardea herodias , Anas platyrhynchos , Mergus merganser ; differs from the present species in body shape, a larger body, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (16), the number of hooks per row (7–10), having broad and fan shaped lemnisci, and larger eggs.

P. s w a r t z i Schmidt, 1965 collected from Barrows golden eye, Bucephala islandica ; differs from the present species in body size, having a conspicuous swelling of the fore trunk, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (18), the number of hooks per row (10–11), and larger eggs.

P. co r y n o s o m a Travassos, 1915 collected from Nyctanassa v. violacea , Nycticorax sp.; differs by having a larger body size, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (16), the number of hooks per row (15), all hooks of the proboscis having the same length, larger lemnisci, and the distribution of body spines up to the level of extension of proboscis receptacle.

P. formosus Schmidt and Kuntz, 1967 ; the new species has a close resemblance to P. formosus Schmidt and Kuntz, 1967 in the shape of the body but differs in being smaller in body size, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks, the number of hooks per row, the size of the hooks smaller on the base and apex, smaller lemnisci, having oblique testes, and trunk spines that are dense, equally distributed ventrally and dorsally. Whereas P. formosus has a larger body, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks is 12–15, the number of hooks per row is 7–9, the size and shape of the hooks is similar in each row, the lemnisci are longer, the testes are tandem and only a few spines are present on the trunk.

As mentioned above, in Pakistan, P. nickoli has been reported from Corvus splendens by Khan and Bilqees (1998), Khan, Ghazi and Bilqees (2002) reported P. sindhensis from Corvus splendens, Mutiur-Rahman, Khan, Bilqees, and Khatoon (2008) reported P. mohiuddini from owls, and Khan et al. (2008) reported P. fatimaae in Corvus splendens . Polymorphus nickoli differs from the present species in having a larger body size, a smaller neck, the shape of the proboscis, number of longitudinal rows of hooks (10), number of hook per row (16), lemnisci smaller than the proboscis receptacle, and the smaller size of eggs; body spines of P. nickoli are not mentioned. Polymorphus sindhensis differs from the present species in having larger body size, females larger than males, smaller neck, number of longitudinal rows of hooks (14), number of hooks per row (16) and smaller size of eggs; body spines of P. sindhensis are not mentioned. Polymorphus mohiuddini , known only from male worms, differs from the present species in having a larger, elongated body, a smaller neck, a cylindrical and pyriform proboscis, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (20–23) and number of hooks per row (12–14). Polymorphus fatimaae differs from the present species in having a larger body size, a smaller neck, the number of longitudinal rows of hooks (9–12), number of hooks per row (6–12) and a more elongated and separated testes; body spines of P. fatimaae are not mentioned.