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Comparative Parasitology 68(2) 2001 - Peru State College

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224 COMPARATIVE PARASITOLOGY, <strong>68</strong>(2), JULY <strong>2001</strong><br />

Remarks<br />

Fischthal and Kuntz (1975) described Mesostephanoid.es<br />

taiwanensis from the small intestine<br />

of E. chinensis from Taipei Prefecture in<br />

Taiwan on the basis of a single specimen. We<br />

examined that specimen, USNPC No. 73148,<br />

and, even though it was not from the gallbladder,<br />

we considered our specimens from Vietnam<br />

conspecific with it. Data for the holotype fit<br />

those for our specimens. We, however, interpret<br />

differently the terminal genitalia described and<br />

illustrated by Fischthal and Kuntz (1975) in their<br />

Figure 15. Perhaps they misinterpreted the nonillustrated<br />

muscular looping of the metraterm as<br />

spines. In any event, the cirrus sac of the holotype<br />

contained a club-shaped seminal vesicle<br />

measuring about 260 u,m long, a straight pars<br />

prostatica 113 u,m long, and a short ejaculatory<br />

duct 45 fjim long. The metraterm coiled once<br />

prior to descending to the genital atrium. We observed<br />

spines in none of these features. Because<br />

of the lack of a spined cirrus and lack of anterior<br />

confluence of the bands of vitelline follicles, we<br />

consider that the species belongs to Szidatia Dubois,<br />

1938, as Szidatia taiwanensis (Fischthal and<br />

Kuntz, 1975) comb. n.<br />

Dubois (1951) differentiated the monotypic<br />

genus Mesostephanoides Dubois, 1951, from<br />

other cyathocotylid genera on the basis of Mesostephanoides<br />

burmanicus (Chatterji, 1940),<br />

having a forebody to total body length ratio that<br />

we estimate as 1:1.14-1.18, a spined cirrus 300<br />

(Jim long, and vitelline follicles confluent anteriorly.<br />

We consider the first 2 features of questionable<br />

generic significance, and an examination<br />

of M. burmanicus and related species may<br />

show that Mesostephanoides is a synonym of<br />

Gogatea Lutz, 1935, a genus with species having<br />

anteriorly confluent vitelline follicles.<br />

Szidatia taiwanensis resembles its 2 congeners<br />

in that the vitelline follicles are in separate<br />

lateral fields, as opposed to being in a single<br />

confluent field underlying the tribocytic organ as<br />

reported for species of Gogatea, the only other<br />

genus in Szidatiinae. Szidatia taiwanensis most<br />

closely resembles Szidatia nemethi Dollfus,<br />

1953, from the water snake TV. maura (as N. viperina)<br />

from Charrat, Morocco, but differs from<br />

this species by having a much smaller tribocytic<br />

organ (283—447 jjim long by 246-423 |xm wide<br />

vs. 885 (Jim long by 765 u,m wide), larger eggs<br />

(140-169 jxm long by 80-99 (Jim wide vs. 105<br />

Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington<br />

(xm long by 55 (Jim wide), and a club-shaped<br />

rather than a coiled seminal vesicle. Szidatia taiwanensis<br />

differs from S. joyeuxi, the type and<br />

remaining species in the genus, by having a<br />

longer esophagus (67-149 |JLm compared with<br />

40 |xm), ceca that reach only to the level of the<br />

anterior testis rather than beyond the posterior<br />

testis, an acetabulum that lies between the middle<br />

and anterior % of the forebody rather than<br />

exactly in the middle, and oblique rather than<br />

tandem testes; the anterior testis is almost entirely<br />

within the forebody rather than in the<br />

hindbody, the seminal vesicle is club-shaped<br />

rather than coiled, and the eggs are larger (140-<br />

169 (xm long by 80-99 (Jim wide vs. 100 (Jim<br />

long by 70 (xm wide). The minute papillae on<br />

the tegument at the posterior end, too small to<br />

illustrate to scale, probably serve a sensory<br />

function during mating or egg deposition. The<br />

intestine, the infection site of the specimen reported<br />

by Fischthal and Kuntz (1975), may have<br />

resulted from postmortem migration from the<br />

gallbladder. A few specimens of other species<br />

normally found in the gallbladder occasionally<br />

occur in the intestine normally. We do not think<br />

the difference in sites based on 1 specimen is<br />

significant.<br />

As with the echinostomate specimens of S.<br />

vietnamensis, the initial specimens of S. taiwanensis<br />

had been placed in fresh water prior to<br />

fixation in unheated formalin (see Fig. 6). Unlike<br />

those of S. vietnamensis, these specimens<br />

were not fixed under any pressure; nevertheless,<br />

their measurements and features varied dramatically<br />

from those obtained from specimens fixed<br />

with heat and used for the above description.<br />

Hindbody length was generally shorter (146-<br />

506 (Jim vs. 326—762 (Jim), and both the anterior<br />

and posterior testes occurred entirely in the forebody<br />

of specimens exposed to water, whereas<br />

the posterior testis was always in the hindbody<br />

of heat-killed specimens. The cirrus sac was<br />

generally straighter in osmotically stressed specimens<br />

and more bent or curled in the region of<br />

the pars prostatica in heat-killed specimens. In<br />

addition, the tribocytic organ was greatly enlarged<br />

(492-650 (Jim long by 520-<strong>68</strong>5 |xm wide<br />

vs. 283-447 fxm long by 245-423 ujn wide) in<br />

the stressed specimens. The most important difference<br />

due to fixation techniques pertained to<br />

the configuration of the vitellarium. In the<br />

stressed specimens, vitelline follicles appeared<br />

confluent anteriorly (horseshoe-shaped distribu-

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