New species of Parapharyngodon (Nematoda: Pharyngodonidae) parasite of Osteocephalus taurinus (Anura: Hylidae) from Northern Brazilian Amazon Region.

Abstract

Parapharyngodon spp. are nematodes parasites of amphibian and reptiles worldwide distributed. Of 55 valid species, only 11 are known for the Neotropical realm, and six were found parasitizing hylid frogs in the world. In the present work, we describe a new species of Parapharyngodon from the large intestine of Osteocephalus taurinus from Reserva de Desenvolvimento Mamirauá, Amazonas, Brazil, using light and scanning electron microscopy. Parapharyngodon curupira n. sp. is allocated to the group of species with three pairs of cloacal papillae. However, it shows a set of different morphological characters compared to its congeners. In the new species, males have gubernaculum and smooth cloacal lip, females have pre-bulbar ovaries, and we also observed some morphometric differences. Among Parapharyngodon spp. from the Neotropical realm, the new taxon resembles P. alverangai and P. politoedi. The last species was described from the same host and biome (Amazon); however, they can be easily distinguished from new species by the presence of gubernaculum and v-shape structure at the lower caudal lip. Thus, we characterize and propose a new species of Parapharyngodon from the western amazon.