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

GRACIELA T, NAVONE; JORGE A, ETCHEGOIN; FLORENCIA CREMONTE

JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY

AMER SOC PARASITOLOGISTS

Año: 2000 vol. 86 p. 807 - 810

0022-3395

: During a parasitological 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 C. multipapillatum (Drasche, 1809) on the basis of the following features: ratio of ventricular appendage length to esophagus length, ratio of intestinal caecum length to esophagus length, spicule lengths, number and arrangement of postcloacal papillae (3-4 pairs of adanal papillae, 1 double pair, and a subterminal 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 validity of other species of Contracaecum reported from Argentina. Contracaecum philomultipapillatum Labriola and Suriano, 1996 is reduced to a junior synonym of C. multipapillatum, and C. longicaecum Schuurmans Sterkhoven, 1952 is considered a species inquirenda. A revision of  C. spheniscus Boero and Led, 1970 based on appropriate material is necessary.