Mathevotaenia sp.

Panti-May, Jesús Alonso, Chan-Casanova, Anyela Jackelin, Canche-Pool, Elsy, Tello-Martín, Raúl, Ruiz-Piña, Hugo, Concha-Guillermo, Henry, Guiascón, Oscar Retana-, Vega, Pedro Pablo Martínez, Chablé-Santos, Juan, Martínez, Erendira Estrella-, Moguel-Chin, Wilson Isaias, Hernández-Orts, Jesús S., Hernández-Mena, David I., Mendoza-Garfias, Berenit & García-Prieto, Luis, 2024, Morphological and molecular data on helminths of Didelphis virginiana and Philander vossi (Mammalia: Didelphidae) from the Yucatán Peninsula, southeast Mexico, Zootaxa 5463 (1), pp. 1-24 : 6

Mathevotaenia sp.

Site of infection: Small intestine.

Host species: Didelphis virginiana .

Locality: Mérida (Yucatán).

Prevalence: 16.7% (1/6).

Intensity: 6.

Specimen deposited: CNHE 12896.

GenBank accession number: PP662454.

Comments: The specimens of Mathevotaenia possess an unarmed scolex, 270 long by 310‒330 wide ( Figure 2A ). Suckers 135‒148 long by 127‒132 wide. Proglottids craspedote. Genital pores alternate irregularly. Testes from 45 to 48 in number, arranged in two lateral fields between both ovary and vitelline gland, 40‒45 long by 34‒40 wide. Elongated cirrus pouch, reaching lateral osmoregulatory canals. Ovary 200 long by 460 wide, medial, in anterior half of proglottid ( Figure 2B ). Eggs spherical, 38‒40 in diameter. Seven species of Mathevotaenia have been reported from numerous species of opossums in the Americas: Mathevotaenia bivittata (Janicki) , Mathevotaenia didelphidis (Rudolphi) , Mathevotaenia marmosae (Beddard) , Mathevotaenia pennsylvanica (Chandler & Melvin) , Mathevotaenia surinamensis (Cohn) , Mathevotaenia argentinensis Campbell,Gardner&Navone ,and Mathevotaenia sanmartini Jiménez, Braun, Campbell & Gardner. The number of testes (45‒48) allowed the differentiation of the Yucatán specimens from M. argentinensis (vs 19‒29) ( Campbell et al. 2003), M. bivittata (vs 5‒13) ( Hughes, 1940; Campbell et al. 2003), M. sanmartini (26‒41) ( Jiménez et al. 2008), M. surinamensis (vs 90‒100) ( Buchanan 1956), M. didelphidis (vs 20) ( Hughes 1940), M. pennsylvanica (30‒40) ( Campbell et al. 2003), and M. marmosae (vs>100) ( Beddard 1914). Moreover, the studied specimens had a narrower scolex (310‒330) than that of M. argentinensis (vs 392‒536), M. bivittata (vs 460‒600), M. sanmartinensis (vs 843‒1246), M. surinamensis (vs 580‒800), and M. pennsylvanica (vs 946). These differences suggest that the specimens from Yucatán may represent a species not described yet.

In Mexico, unidentified species of Mathevotaenia have been reported from D. virginiana in Chiapas ( Monet-Mendoza et al. 2005) and Colima ( García-Prieto et al. 2012; García-Valle et al. 2023). This is the first report of Mathevotaenia in the Yucatán Peninsula.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Mathevotaenia sp. from Didelphis virginiana. A. SEM micrograph of scolex in lateral view. B. Mature proglottid in dorsal view. Abbreviations: sucker (s), cirrus sac (cs), ovary (o), testis (t), vitelline gland (vg).