The brachylaimidae (Trematoda: Digenea) of Australian native mammals and birds, including descriptions of Dasyurotrema n. g. and four new species of Brachylaima

Abstract

The Brachylaimidae of Australian native animals are revised. Brachylaima dasyuri (Johnston, 1913) is redescribed from Dasyurus viverrinus, Phascogale tapoatafa and Isoodon macrourus. B. simile (Johnston, 1913) is removed from synonymy with B. dasyuri, reinstated as a valid species and redescribed from Perameles nasuta, Isoodon obesulus and Antechinus stuartii. B. antechini Peisley & Howell, 1975 is reduced to synonymy with B. simile. B. brindabellensis n. sp. is described from Rattus fuscipes. B. walterae n. sp. is described from Antechinus swainsonii and A. stuartii. B. delecta n. sp. is described from Antechinus flavipes. B. sandarsae n. sp. is described from Antechinus godmani. B. pulchellum (Johnston, 1917) is redescribed from Leucosarcia melanoleuca. An unnamed Brachylaima species is described from Isoodon macrourus. New host records are Brachylaima dasyuri from Phascogale tapoatafa and B. simile from Perameles nasuta. Dasyurotrema mascomai n. g., n. sp. is described from Antechinus swainsonii. The new genus is placed in the Panopistinae. It differs from the existing genera by having a single loop of the uterus passing anterior to the ventral sucker and the genital pore posterior to the posterior testis but still distinctly ventral. A second species of Dasyurotrema is recorded, but not described, from Antechinus stuartii. Brachylaimid metacercariae are described from Rhytida capillacea, Helicarion virens, H. mastersi and Vercularion strangei. In no case was a host species found to harbour more than one species from any brachylaimid genus at a single geographical site.

Renylaima capensis n. gen., n. sp. (Trematoda: Brachylaimidae) from the urinary system of the shrew Myosorex varius Smuts, 1832 (Insectivora: Soricidae)

“…Both the bursa and cirrus pouch are surrounded by glands. The absence of an internal seminal vesicle, pars prostatica, and inner prostate cells in these two species contrasts with other brachylaimids where a pars prostatica has been found (Lewis 1969;Peisley and Howell 1975;Cribb 1992;Butcher and Grove 2001). The pattern of the male ducts in Zeylanurotrema spearei corresponds well with that of B. ruminae and D. frontalis, although the unspecialized duct connecting the vesicula seminalis and bursa is a distinct and relatively long entity in this Australian species (Cribb and Barton, 1991a).…”

Brachylaima aspersae n. sp. (Digenea: Brachylaimidae) infecting farmed snails in NW Spain: Morphology, life cycle, pathology, and implications for heliciculture

“…This is, however, a very problematic and confused genus that includes many poorly known species, for which the description of the adult stage is the only information available (Yamaguti, 1971). Unfortunately, identifying new Brachylaima species only on the basis of the morphoanatomical and morphometric characteristics of the adult stage may not provide enough information to distinguish all combinations of species, since (1) the sympatry of two or more hardly distinguishable species is not uncommon and (2) considerable allometric variation associated with adult growth and maturation has been demonstrated in certain species (Cribb, 1990(Cribb, , 1992. Faced with these difficulties, most authors currently agree that establishing new Brachylaima species should be supported not only by a detailed description of all developmental stages, including the cercarial chaetotaxy, but also by additional information concerning the life cycle, host specificities, site(s) of infection, and geographical distribution of the digenean Butcher and Grove, 2001;Gracenea and González-Moreno, 2002;González-Moreno and Gracenea, 2006).…”

Life cycle of Renylaima capensis, a brachylaimid trematode of shrews and slugs in South Africa: two-host and three-host transmission modalities suggested by epizootiology and DNA sequencing

“…Michajlovia is included in Brachylaimoidea as incertae sedis although close to Leucochloridiidae and Leucochloridiomorphidae [ 31 , 63 ], and also shows several similarities with the South African fluke. Except for the extent of vitellaria, the morphological similarities of Michajlovia with the panopistine genus Dasyurotrema , whose type species D. mascomai infects the alimentary tract and associated organs of marsupials [ 64 ], are evident.…”