A Critical Study of North American Cestodes of the Genus Andrya with Special Reference to A. macrocephala Douthitt, 1915. (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae)

Authors

Robert L. Rausch, University of WashingtonFollow
Everett Schiller, University of Wisconsin, Madiso

Date of this Version

6-1949

Comments

Published in the Journal of Parasitology (June 1949) v. 35, no. 3.

Abstract

Eight species of cestodes belonging to the genus Andrya Railliet, 1883, have been described from North American rodents. To the present time, 6 of these have been considered valid (A. primordialis Douthitt, 1915; A. macrocephala Douthitt, 1915; A. neotomae Voge, 1946; A. microti Hansen, 1947; A. sciuri Rausch, 1947; A. ondatrae Rausch, 1948). The genus Andrya was separated by Kirschenblatt (1938) into two subgenera, depending upon the presence or absence of a prostate gland. Of the North American species, only one (A. primordialis) possesses a prostate gland. Since we are concerned essentially with the other 5 closely-related species, A. primordialis is only briefly considered. The purpose of this paper is to present the data derived from a detailed study of morphological variation in certain of these cestodes, together with the resulting nomenclatural changes.