Folia Parasitologica 61[6] 571-580 (2014) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2014.059

Ophidascaris wangi sp. n. and O. najae (Gedoelst, 1916) (Ascaridida: Ascaridoidea) from snakes in China

Liang Li¹, Yan-Ning Guo¹, Jian Li², Lu-Ping Zhang¹

¹ Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Hebei Province, College of Life Science, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China;

² College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China

Ophidascaris wangi sp. n. collected from the king rat snake Elaphe carinata (Günther) (Serpentes: Colubridae) in China is described using both light and scanning electron microscopy. The new species differs from its congeners in the presence of narrow lateral alae originating a short distance posterior to the base of the ventrolateral lips, its relatively long oesophagus (3.57-4.54 mm long, representing 6.6-7.6% of body length), its short spicules (1.89-2.14 mm long, representing 3.9-4.3% of body length), the number and arrangement of caudal papillae (49-57 pairs in total, arranged as follows: 43-51 pairs precloacal, 2 pairs joined paracloacal and 4 pairs postcloacal), the presence of a particular papilliform medioventral, postcloacal ornamentation and the morphology of the eggs and tip of the female tail. In addition, Ophidascaris najae (Gedoelst, 1916), collected from the king cobra Ophiophagus hannah Cantor (Serpentes: Elapidae) in China, is also redescribed. The morphology of the cervical papillae, labial denticles and phasmids of the female is described for the first time.

Keywords: Ascarididae, Nematoda, Elaphe carinata, morphology, taxonomy, Ophiophagus hannah

Received: March 25, 2014; Accepted: June 18, 2014; Prepublished online: October 15, 2014; Published: December 4, 2014  Show citation