Description of Buckarootrema goodmani n. g., n. sp. (Digenea: Pronocephalidae), a Parasite of the Freshwater Turtle Emydura macquarii (Gray, 1830) (Pleurodira: Chelidae) from Queensland, Australia, and a Phylogenetic Analysis of the Genera of the Pronocephalidae Looss, 1902

Authors

Thomas R. Platt, St. Mary's College
Daniel R. Brooks, University of TorontoFollow

Date of this Version

10-2001

Comments

Published in the Journal of Parasitology (October 2001) 87(5): 1,115-1,119. Copyright 2001, the American Society of Parasitologists. Used by permission.

Abstract

Buckarootrema goodmani n. g., n. sp. is described from the small intestine of the Murray turtle, Emydura macquarii (Gray, 1830), from the vicinity of Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The distinctive taxonomic features include the vitellarium, which consists of two compact masses directly anterior to and occasionally overlapping the testes; the uterus with extensive pre- and postovarian coils; intestinal ceca with small, medial diverticula that terminate anterior to or at the anterior margin of the testes; a comma-shaped cirrus sac with both internal and external seminal vesicles. Phylogenetic systematic analysis of the genera of the Pronocephalidae including Buckarootrema and Notopronocephalus, the only other genus of pronocephalids reported from Australian freshwater turtles, indicates that Buckarootrema is the sister taxon of Neopronocephalus and Notopronocephalus is the sister group of the rest of the Pronocephalinae.