A new species of Andracantha Schmidt (Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae) parasite of Neotropical cormorants, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Gmelin) (Aves, Phalacrocoracidae) from southern Brazil

Abstract

A new species of the genus Andracantha Schmidt, 1975, parasite of Neotropical cormorants, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Gmelin, 1789), is described and compared to the other six species currently placed in the genus. The new species differs from the previously known species of Andracantha by having two inflations in the anterior region of the trunk and by having the testes in tandem in the central region of the body. These differences were also responsible for the diagnosis emendation of the genus now proposed. The orange pigmentation of the acanthocephalans recently collected from the intestine is documented for the first time in a species of this genus. This is the first record of adult specimens of any species of Andracantha in South America.