Abstract
The marine toad Rhinella marina (Linnaeus) (Anura, Bufonidae) is a notorious, exotic amphibian species in Australia. However, our present knowledge of the composition of the nematode fauna of R. marina is still not complete. In the present study, a new cosmocercid nematode, Cosmocerca multipapillatasp. nov., was described using both light and scanning electron microscopy, based on specimens collected from R. marina in Australia. Cosmocerca multipapillatasp. nov. can be easily distinguished from its congeners by the body size, the presence of lateral alae and well sclerotized gubernaculum, the number and arrangement of plectanes and rosettes and the length of spicules, oesophagus and tail.
Highlights
The marine toad Rhinella marina (Linnaeus) (Anura, Bufonidae) is a large, terrestrial toad, which is natively distributed in Central and South America (Zug and Zug 1979; Lever 2001)
The helminth fauna of R. marina was studied by many authors and over 30 species of nematode parasites have been recorded from this host (Brenes and Bravo-Hollis 1959; Speare 1990; Goldberg and Bursey 1992; Barton 1996; Bursey et al 2000; Kuzmin et al 2007; EspinozaJimenez et al 2007; Bursey and Brooks 2010; Drake et al 2014)
Cosmocerca multipapillata sp. nov. can be distinguished from the three above-mentioned species by having males with many more plectanes (10‒12 pairs in the new species vs only 4‒5 pairs in the other three) and a distinctly longer tail in females (0.22‒0.38 mm, representing 6.65‒12.4% of body length in the new species vs 0.14‒0.22 mm, representing 3.25‒6.33% of body length in the other three species) (Johnson and Simpson 1942; Baker and Green 1988; Bursey et al 2015)
Summary
The marine toad Rhinella marina (Linnaeus) (Anura, Bufonidae) is a large, terrestrial toad, which is natively distributed in Central and South America (Zug and Zug 1979; Lever 2001). The helminth fauna of R. marina was studied by many authors and over 30 species of nematode parasites have been recorded from this host (Brenes and Bravo-Hollis 1959; Speare 1990; Goldberg and Bursey 1992; Barton 1996; Bursey et al 2000; Kuzmin et al 2007; EspinozaJimenez et al 2007; Bursey and Brooks 2010; Drake et al 2014). During a helminthological survey in Australian amphibians, some nematodes belonging to the Cosmocercoidea Travassos, 1925 were collected from R. marina. Their examination using light and scanning electron microscopy revealed that these specimens represented a new species of Cosmocerca Diesing, 1861
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