Morphology and morphometrics of three oxyurids parasitic in primates with a description of Lemuricola microcebi n. sp.

Abstract

Classical and morphometric analyses were conducted on several samples of oxyurid nematodes parasitic in strepsirrhine primates: Cheirogaleus major, Galago senegalensis, and Microcebus murinus. A diagnosis of Lemuricola contagiosus Chabaud & Petter, 1959 from C. major is given using syntypes, from which a lectotype is selected. The rest of the specimens were compared to L. contagiosus. From measurements taken from each sex, an initial Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on logtransformed data and a second PCA was performed on log-shape ratios after elimination of the isometric differences. The parasites collected from M. murinus, which can be differentiated from the closely related L. contagiosus by both standard morphological characters and morphometric variables, are described as Lemuricola microcebi n. sp. The parasites collected from Galago are morphologically very similar to L. microcebi n. sp. The most probable explanation for this resemblance is considered to be a transfer from Microcebus to Galago but, due to the small numbers of individuals in our samples, it is impossible to eliminate the possibility that the parasites of Galago belong to an undescribed species. Until more material or information can be obtained, it is proposed to refer to the parasites from Galago as Lemuricola sp.