Arlenelepis harpiprioni gen. et sp. n. (Cestoda: Dilepididae) from Harpiprion caerulescens (Vieillot) (Aves: Threskiornithidae) in Paraguay

Abstract

Arlenelepis harpiprioni gen. et sp. n. (Cyclophyllidea, Dilepididae) is described from the plumbeous ibis Harpiprion caerulescens (Vieillot) (Ciconiiformes, Threskiornithidae) in Province Concepción, Paraguay. This cestode is characterised by a very small body (not exceeding 5 mm in length) consisting of about 30 proglottides, musculo-glandular rostellar apparatus, rostellar hooks arranged in two regular rows, few testes (7-10 in number) situated mostly in a post-ovarian group but one testis pre-ovarian, a large oval cirrus sac reaching antiporal osmoregulatory canals, massive cirrus armed with needle-shaped and thorn-shaped spines, long convoluted vagina, and longitudinally elongate sacciform horseshoe-shaped uterus with deep lobes of the medial uterine wall. The new genus is unique among the family Dilepididae in possessing a rhynchus armed with conical spines.