A New Anoplocephaline Cestode, Oochoristica anniellae, from the California Limbless Lizard

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The material which forms the basis for this paper consists of two tapeworms from the intestine of the limbless lizard, Anniella pulchra nigra, collected near Castroville, California by Charles M. Miller and sent for identification by Professor Harold Kirby of the University of California. Sincere gratitude is here expressed for the privilege of studying these specimens. The first cestode (Fig. 3) has a scolex and thirty attached segments; the terminal proglottid (Fig. 1) is sexually mature but not gravid. The other worm consists of a scolex and twenty-eight segments, the last not fully mature. In addition, there are seventeen detached proglottids, fragments of the terminal part of a strobila, and probably from the second cestode, since the medially directed terminal portions of the excretory tubes of the first one indicate that it is almost complete. The detached pieces consist of gravid proglottids in which the embryos are uniformly distributed throughout the segments and vary in size from minute morular masses to fully-developed onchospheres in thin-shelled eggs. The specimens were in poor condition and unsuitable for sectioning; consequently only haematoxylin-stained whole mounts were made. Although the amount of material is small for a positive specific determination, the cestodes undoubtedly belong to the genus Oochoristica. Since the species of the genus are not clearly delimited and the amount of normal variation which occurs within a given species is not well established, it is questionable to what extent morphological differences should be considered as merely intra-specific variations. The present specimens, however, show marked differences from all previously described forms and we are unable to assign them to any known species. Accordingly, they are described and listed tentatively as a new species, Oochoristica anniellae.