Breinlia (Breinlia) trichosuri ( Breinl, 1913 ) 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 : 34-35

Breinlia (Breinlia) trichosuri ( Breinl, 1913) Chabaud & Bain, 1976

Filaria trichosuri Breinl, 1913, pp. 39–41 , pl. IX figs. 1–4, pl. X fig. 1, ( Trichosurus vulpecula ) Townsville, Qld. Breinlia trichosuri (Breinl) Yorke & Maplestone, 1926, pp. 400–401 , figs. 273A–273D; Yeh 1957, p. 201; Mackerras 1962, pp.

411–413, pl. 2 fig.13; Presidente 1984, p. 177, 189 ( Trichosurus caninus ); Viggers & Spratt 1995, pp. 314–315, 321–322. Dipetalonema trichosuri (Breinl) Johnston & Mawson, 1938a, p. 117 , fig. 25; Johnston & Mawson 1940, p. 468 ( Trichosurus caninus ); Spratt & Varughese 1975, pp.74–78, figs. 168–179. Breinlia (Breinlia) trichosuri (Breinl) Chabaud & Bain, 1976, p. 377 ; Spratt et al. 1991, p. 27–28, 69. Acanthocheilonema australe Baylis, 1925 (not Linstow, 1897), pp. 113–114, 1 fig. ( Trichosurus vulpecula ).

Type host. Trichosurus vulpecula (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae ).

Other hosts. Trichosurus caninus (Ogilby) .

Site in host. Peritoneal cavity.

Other material examined. From Trichosurus vulpecula: QLD : 3♂, 4♀, ( N658 ) Mt. Elliot ; 1♂, 1♀, ( N704 ) Mt. Molloy ; 1♂, 8♀, N5429, Beerwah; 2♀, (no N #) , 1♀ (no N #) , Rockhampton. NSW : 1♀, ( N1351 ) Buckenbowra State Forest ; 2♀, ( N795 ) Timbillica State Forest .

From Trichosurus caninus: QLD : 2♂, 3♀, (no N #), Moggil, Brisbane .

Distribution and hosts. Breinlia (B.) trichosuri is known from Trichosurus vulpecula in north, central and southeastern Queensland and in southeastern New South Wales, and from Trichosurus caninus in central and southeastern Queensland. This filarioid species has not been recorded from T. cunninghami , which occurs in central and north-eastern Victoria and possibly into southern New South Wales ( Lindenmayer et al. 2002). In a survey of the ecto-and endo parasites of T. caninus and T. cunninghami , B. (B.) trichosuri was found in 1 of 8 T. caninus (Bulburin State Forest) in Queensland, 0 of 9 T. caninus in New South Wales and 0 of 9 T. cunninghami in Victoria ( Viggers, 1996). In a survey of the ecto- and endo-parasites of Trichosurus vulpecula in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory B. (B.) trichosuri was found in 2 of 240 T. vulpecula vulpecula (Rockhampton, Queensland) and none of 12 T. vulpecula arnhemensis (Spratt, unpublished). Bolliger (1951) detected sheathed microfilariae in the blood of 20% of T. vulpecula examined from Moss Vale New South Wales but no adults were found. This is not surprising, as these filarioids were probably Sprattia venacavincola (see below). He found no microfilariae in urban animals from Sydney.

Remarks. Two filarioid species are known from possums of the genus Trichosurus . Breinlia (B.) trichosuri occurs in the peritoneal cavity and has unsheathed microfilariae in the blood; Sprattia venacavincola occurs in the inferior vena cava and hepatic veins above the liver and has sheathed microfilariae in the blood. A fourth particularly large species, Filaria dentifera ( Linstow, 1898) , has been reported from the peritoneal cavity but it has been considered of doubtful status as the whereabouts of the specimens are unknown and the species has not been observed since its original description ( Spratt & Varughese 1975).

Beveridge (1979 in Presidente, 1984) collected 45 B. trichosuri from an animal in forest near Townsville, Queensland with diffuse peritonitis, indicating that heavy burdens of this parasite may be pathogenic.

Walker and McMillan (1974) described and measured four female Breinlia sp. from the pleural cavity of the “Mumut” from the Rabaul area of Papua New Guinea in 1930. These worms had been assigned by Heydon (unpublished) to Breinlia trichosuri Yorke & Maplestone, 1926 . They could find no difference between these worms and the type series of B. trichosuri and further material of that species which had been identified by the late Dr. M. Josephine Mackerras. They assigned the worms to B. trichosuri noting that in the absence of males it was impossible to identify them with certainty. The specific identity of the “Mumut” was unknown although Walker and McMillan (1974) noted that it was a name used for bandicoots ( Peramelidae ). The only member of that family occurring in Papua New Guinea, occurs also in Australia, Isoodon macrourus . However, a number of other bandicoots belonging to the family Peroryctidae , members of which do not occur in Australia, occur in Papua New Guinea.

I examined eight mature females from the peritoneal cavity of Isoodon macrourus collected by Ifor Owen from Cape Rodney, southeast of Port Moresby PNG in November 1985. Measurements are as follows: BL 207 (175– 235) mm. MW 762 (636–822). NR 269 (239–292). MO 529 (451–557). GO 1976 (1802–2359). V 6975 (6320– 7742). T 1419 (1201–1590), truncated at tip and terminating in a pair of moderate sized latero–ventral papillae. Small refractile cuticular bosses absent .

These measurements are similar to those presented by Walker and MacMillan (1974) and also similar to those presented by various authors for Breinlia (B.) trichosuri ( Breinl 1913; Mackerras 1962; Spratt & Varughese 1975). The current material differs morphologically from B. (B.) trichosuri insofar as the tail tip is truncated near the tip and bears one pair of moderately sized latero–ventral papillae and refractile cuticular bosses are absent. Spratt and Varughese (1975) described the female tail tip as terminating in a single median papilla and a pair of small lateral papillae and illustrated it in ventral and apical view (Fig. 177). They also noted that the cuticle had minute, longitudinally elongate, refractile bosses commencing in the region of the vulva and terminating approximately 1 mm anterior to the anus, the number of bosses increasing posteriorly but not as conspicuous as in males.

This material may be the same species mentioned by Walker and McMillan (1974) and placed by Heydon in B. trichosuri and the host may have been Isoodon macrourus but uncertainties remain on both counts. With the morphological differences noted here I suspect the current material represents a new species but in the absence of males a specific epithet is not warranted and the material is here recognised as Breinlia (B.) sp. Breinlia (B.) mackerrasae is the only species of the subgenus known currently from I. macrourus in Australia ( Walker & McMillan 1974).