Species of Ascocotyle Looss, 1899 (subgenus Phagicola Faust, 1920) (Digenea: Heterophyidae) related to A. (P.) longa Ransom, 1920, i.e. those with a bipartite gonotyl and a single crown of 16 circumoral spines, were revised on the basis of examination of type and voucher specimens. The species A. (P.) arnaldoi Travassos, 1929, A. (P.) byrdi (Robinson, 1956) and A. (P.) longicollis (Kuntz & Chandler, 1956), all possessing 16 circumoral spines, are synonymised with A. (P.) longa. A. (P.) ascolonga Witenberg, 1929, the types of which were not available, is provisionally retained as a valid species despite its close similarity to A. (P.) longa (identical number of circumoral spines and morphology of the ventrogenital sac). It differs from A. (P.) longa in the presence of uterine loops posterior to the testes and intestinal caeca ending anterior to the ovary (versus the pretesticular uterus and intestinal caeca reaching to the posterior margin of the ovary in A. (P.) longa). A. (P.) inglei (Hutton & Sogandares-Bernal, 1959), found only once in a single specimen, is also tentatively considered a valid species because it differs in number of circumoral spines (19), slightly larger eggs (23-26 x 13-16 microns) and the distribution of refractile bodies of the gonotyl arranged in four separate groups from A. (P.) longa and A. (P.) ascolonga (16 circumoral spines; eggs 15-20 x 8-12 microns; refractile bodies in two groups).

Institute of Parasitology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Ceské Budĕjovice Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

J Parasitol. 1958 Dec;44(6):627-32 PubMed

Parasitology. 1977 Jun;74(3):255-71 PubMed

J Parasitol. 1997 Feb;83(1):141-7 PubMed

Parasitology. 1964 Nov;54:601-76 PubMed

J Parasitol. 1956 Aug;42(4 Section 1):445-59 PubMed

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1973 Nov 1;266(879):341-447 PubMed

J Parasitol. 1956 Jun;42(3):326-31 PubMed

The first new species of European Ascocotyle Looss, 1899 (Digenea: Heterophyidae) described in more than half a century

Heterophyid trematodes (Digenea) from penguins: A new species of Ascocotyle Looss, 1899, first description of metacercaria of Ascocotyle (A.) patagoniensis Hernández-Orts et al. (2012), and first molecular data