Two new cestode species of the family Hymenolepididae Perrier, 1897 (Cyclophyllidea) from passerine birds in Ethiopia, with the erection of Citrilolepis n. g.

Abstract

Two new cestode species of the family Hymenolepididae Perrier, 1897 are described from birds of the order Passeriformes at Wondo Genet, Ethiopia. Passerilepis zimbebel n. sp., a parasite of Terpsiphone viridis (Müller) (Monarchidae), is distinguished from its most similar congeners by its diorchoid rostellar hooks with length 37-38 μm, its median ovary consisting of three compact lobes, its compact vitellarium and the variable position of the terminal genital ducts passing mostly dorsally to the poral osmoregulatory canals. Citrilolepis n. g. is erected as monotypic for C. citrili n. sp., a parasite of Crithagra citrinelloides (Rüpell) (Fringillidae). The new genus is distinguished from the remaining avian and mammalian genera of the family Hymenolepididae by the presence of numerous (18) rostellar hooks, unilateral sinistral genital pores, ventral osmoregulatory canals with transverse anastomoses, 3 (rarely 4, in c.10% of proglottides) testes in number with variable positions in the proglottis and the sac-like uterus not extending beyond the osmoregulatory canals.