A new species of Moniliformis from a Sigmodontinae rodent in Patagonia (Argentina)

NAVONE, GRACIELA TERESA; NAVONE, GRACIELA TERESA; GUERREIRO MARTINS, NATALIA BEATRIZ; GUERREIRO MARTINS, NATALIA BEATRIZ; DEL ROSARIO ROBLES, MARÍA; DEL ROSARIO ROBLES, MARÍA

PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH

SPRINGER

Año: 2017 vol. 116 p. 2091 - 2099

0932-0113

The majority of species of Acanthocephala knownthus far from South America have been recorded mostly infish and wild birds. In particular, rodents in Argentina havebeen poorly studied for acanthocephalans. The genusAbrothrix (Sigmodontinae-Cricetidae) ranges from theAltiplano of southern Peru through the highlands of Bolivia,northern Chile, and Argentina south through Tierra del Fuego.The purpose of this paper was to study Acanthocephala speciesparasitizing different populations of Abrothrix from SantaCruz province (Patagonia Argentina). Specimens ofAcanthocephala were found in the small intestine ofAbrothrix olivaceus, showing values of P 14.7%, IM = 2.8,and AM = 0.41. All the rodents parasitized were collected inPunta Quilla, Santa Cruz, Argentina. The specimens ofAbrothrix longipilis were not parasitized. Moniliformis aminin. sp. is described with features such as the long, cylindrical,and pseudo-segmented body; proboscis receptacle doublewalled, outer wall with muscle fibers usually arranged spirally,and a combination of several morphometric characters, mainlythe very small size of the proboscis receptacle and length ofthe testes and lemnisci. A marked proportion of arthropodswas found in the diet of A. olivaceus, characterizing it asarthropodivorous. Possibly, a larger sampling effort and specificprojects dealing with the study of acanthocephalans willshed light on several questions of the rodent-Moniliformisrelationship.