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Micropleura huchzermeyeri n. sp. (Camallanida: Dracunculoidea: Micropleuridae) from the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti (Reptilia: Crocodylidae), in South Africa

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Abstract

Micropleura huchzermeyeri n. sp. (Camallanida: Dracunculoidea: Micropleuridae) is described from the peritoneal cavity of Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti (Reptilia: Crocodylidae), based on a detailed study of its morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy. The new species is compared with its congeners, M. australiensis Moravec, Kay & Hobbs, 2004, M. vazi Travassos, 1933 and M. vivipara von Linstow, 1906 from crocodilians, and with M. indica Khera, 1951 from chelonian hosts. It can be distinguished from these by the length of its spicules, which are longer than in all described species and a combination of characters, including the presence of prominent lateral caudal papillae on the level of the cloaca in males, the presence of conspicuous phasmids on the female tail, the pre-equatorial position of the vulva and the length of the first-stage larvae. Micropleura huchzermeyeri n. sp. is further characterised by having 14 cephalic papillae in both sexes and ten pairs of caudal papillae in males. This is the first report of a representative of the genus Micropleura von Linstow, 1906 from a crocodilian in the Afrotropical region. Micropleura helicospicula Dey Sarkar, 2003 is considered a species incertae sedis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Danny Govender, Kruger National Park, for facilitating the collections. Professor Joop Boomker and the late Dr Fritz W. Huchzermeyer, University of Pretoria, are thanked for or their help with parasite collection.

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Correspondence to Kerstin Junker.

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All applicable institutional, national and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as E64000D3-2A36-4977-84DC-AB55A79106AC. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. This is the Version of Record.

This article is part of the Topical Collection Nematoda.

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Junker, K., Mutafchiev, Y. Micropleura huchzermeyeri n. sp. (Camallanida: Dracunculoidea: Micropleuridae) from the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti (Reptilia: Crocodylidae), in South Africa. Syst Parasitol 94, 785–795 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-017-9742-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-017-9742-4

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