Endoparasites of Fat-Tailed Mouse Opossums (Thylamys: Didelphidae) from Northwestern Argentina and Southern Bolivia, with the Description of a New Species of Tapeworm

Authors

F. Agustin Jimenez Ruiz, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow
Janet K. Braun, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural HistoryFollow
Mariel Campbell, University of New MexicoFollow
Scott Lyell Gardner, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

10-2008

Comments

Published in the Journal of Parasitology (October 2008) 94(5): 1,098-1,102. Copyright 2008, American Society of Parasitologists. Used by permission.

Abstract

The parasite fauna of two species of fat-tailed mouse opossums from northwestern Argentina is herein presented. Five species of helminths were found, i.e., Pterygodermatites kozeki, Hoineffia simplispicula, Oligacanthorhynchus sp., and a new species of tapeworm, Mathevotaenia sanmartini n. sp. (Cyclophyllidea: Anoplocephalidae). The new species is characterized by a calyciform scolex, relatively few testes (32), and a long cirrus sac; it occurs in fat-tailed mouse opossums at localities above 4,000 m. Those characters make it different from 6 species known to occur in marsupials from the New World, and from other species occurring in armadillos and bats. Didelphoxyuris thylamisis, H. simplicispicula, and Oligacanthorhynchus sp. appear to occur in marmosas from the Yungas region. In contrast, both P. kozeki and M. sanmartini n. sp. appear to occur exclusively in the Puna.