Contracaecum multipapillatum (Nematoda: Anisakidae)from Egretta alba (Aves: Ardeidae)and comments on other species of this genus in Argentina

NAVONE, GRACIELA TERESA; JORGE ALEJANDRO ETCHEGOIN; CREMONTE, FLORENCIA

Journal of Parasitology

Lugar: Lawrence, Kansas; Año: 2000 vol. 86 p. 807 - 810

During a parasitologica1 survey of aquatic birds in Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon (Buenos Aires province, Argentina), specimens of Contracaecum Raillet & Henry, 1912 sp. were found in the esophagus and stomach of the great egret Egretta alba (Gmelin, 1789) (Aves: Ardeidae). The nematodes were identified as Contracaecum multipapillatum (Drasche, 1882) on the basis of the following features: ratio of ventricular appendage length to esophagus length, ratio of intestina1 caecum length to esophagus length, spicule lengths, number and arrangement of postcloacal papillae (3-4 pairs of adana1 papillae, 1 double pair, and a subterrninal group of 2 subventral and 3 sublateral pairs). A complete description of the adult specimens of C. multipapillatum is given in the present paper, together with a discussion regarding the va1idity of other species of Contracaecum reported from Argentina. Contracaecum philomultipapillatum Labriola and Suriano, 1996 is reduced to a junior synonym of C. multipapillatum. and Contracaecum longicaecum Schuurmans Sterkhoven, 1952 is considered a species inquirenda. A revision of Contracaecum spheniscus Boero and Led, 1970 based on appropriate materia1 is necessary.