New Auriculate Telorchiid Trematodes, including Two New Species of Auritelorchis, and Erection of Allotelorchis n. gen. and Allotelorchiinae n. subf. (Trematoda: Telorchiidae)

Abstract

Two new species of helminths belonging to the genus Auritelorchis (Trematoda: Telorchiidae) from reptiles are described herein. A. harwoodi n. sp. occurs in the black swamp snake, Seminatrix pygeae, from Florida; A. mcdonaldi n. sp. occurs in Bell's hinged tortoise, Kinixys belliana, from Uganda; these new species constitute fourth and fifth species of Auritelorchis. Auritelorchis properly belongs in the subfamily Telorchiinae rather than the Auridistominae. Auridistomum thomasi is transferred to Allotelorchis n. gen. in the Allotelorchiinae n. subf. Keys are provided for subfamilies and genera in the family Telorchiidae. Several small telorchiid trematodes were recovered from a black swamp snake, Seminatrix pygeae (Cope) and from a striped swamp snake, Regina alleni (Garman) in 1948, both from Florida. Following the appearance of the description of Paratelorchis dollfusi by Stunkard & Franz (1977) in Regina alleni the telorchiids from Seminatrix and Regina were reexamined and those from Seminatrix proved to be quite different in some respects from those in Regina alleni. In 1971, Bell's eastern hinged tortoise, Kinixys belliana belliana (Gray) was collected near Karuma Falls, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. In addition to many specimens of a trematode, Mesocoelium, there was a single telorchiid possessing prominent auricular processes lateral to the oral sucker in the intestine. Stunkard & Franz assigned Paratelorchis to the subfamily Auridistominae Stunkard, 1924, which they placed in the family Telorchiidae Stunkard, 1924. Despite some resemblance, Auridistomum Stafford, 1905 is distinct from telorchiids, belonging in its own subfamily and perhaps its own family. Life history studies bear out the close relationship of telorchiids to the ochetosomatids of reptiles. The unsatisfactory assignment of Paratelorchis to the subfamily Auridistominae would further separate Paratelorchis from Telorchis, identical in every respect, except for the presence in the former genus of lateral auricular lappets. Auridistomum is a monotypic genus, with one species, A. chelydrae (Stafford, 1900) in the snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina, from eastern North America (A. georgianus Bogitsh, 1960, from the same host, is questionably distinct). Auridistomum pellucida Coil & Kuntz, 1958, in Clemmys caspia rivulata from Turkey, was correctly removed from Auridistomum and placed in Patagium Heymann, 1905 by Yamaguti (1971), but A. thomasi Dollfus, I am grateful to Dr. John E. Ubelaker for helpful criticisms and suggestions during the final preparation of the manuscript. Publication costs, in part, are being met by a grant from the SpencerTolles Fund of the American Microscopical Society. TRANS. AM. MICROSC. SOC., 107(4): 362-368. 1988. ? Copyright, 1988, by the American Microscopical Society, Inc. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.243 on Wed, 05 Oct 2016 04:52:17 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 107, NO. 4, OCTOBER 1988 1950 was improperly retained in Auridistomum. A. thomasi clearly does not belong in Auridistomum, Telorchis, or Patagium, sharing some features with all three genera, but distinct in other generic characters. A. thomasi shares with Patagium a centrally located reproductive complex, including the testes, and a short uterus with large eggs, resembling in these features the genera Rhytidodes and Rhytidodoides from marine turtles. Stunkard & Franz (1977) assigned two additional species to Paratelorchis, P. bifurcus (Braun, 1900) from the Brazilian tortoise, Podocnemis expansa, and P. auridistomi Byrd, 1937 from the mud snake, Farancia abacura, from southeastern U.S.A., sharing with P. dollfusi the presence of oral auriculate lappets, in this resembling somewhat the genus Auridistomum. Stunkard (1979) noting that Paratelorchis Stunkard & Franz, 1977 was preoccupied by Paratelorchis Mehra & Bokhari, 1932, proposed the genus Auritelorchis. Auridistomum thomasi Dollfus, 1950, though not properly belonging to that genus, cannot be assigned to any other extant genus or subfamily. The original description of A. thomasi is in French and it appears in a relatively inaccessible monograph (Dollfus, 1950); therefore, the species description of Dollfus will be used in part for the descriptions of the new subfamily and genus. Also, Dollfus's drawing of A. thomasi has been reproduced.