The New World filarial genus Molinema Freitas & Lent, 1939 (Nematoda: Onchocercidae), with a description of four new species parasitic in the Echimyidae (Rodentia)

Abstract

Four new species of Molinema (Filarioidea: Onchocercidae), parasites of echimyid rodents in South America, are described: M. algardneri n. sp. from Proechimys amphichoricus, M. barbarae n. sp. from P. cayennensis, both in Venezuela (Rio Negro and Cerro La Neblina, respectively), M. peruviensis n. sp. from P. steerei in Peru (lower Urubamba), and M. nattereri n. sp. (= Filaria diacantha Molin, 1858 pro parte) from Echimys? didelphoides (= Loncheres rufa) in Brazil (Matto Grosso). They differ from each other and from the previously described species in the following characters: flat or concave head, cephalic ratio (distance between cephalic papillae in median view/lateral view), size and shape of the buccal capsule, length of the oesophagus, cuticular ornamentation of the female body, length of the ovijector, thick or slim female tail, area rugosa, long or short filament in the left spicule, heel in the right spicule, respective position of postcloacal papilla pairs 5 and 6, shape of the caudal lappets, terminal point present or absent, and the microfilariae. Molinema, which belongs to the worldwide Dipetalonema line, is distributed in two of the ten families of the Caviomorpha (South American Hystrichognathi have extended their distribution in South America since the early Oligocene). Nine species are parasitic in the Echimyidae (suborder Caviida); they have a short oesophagus and a complete or reduced set of precloacal papillae (four or three pairs). Two species are parasitic in the Erethizontidae (Erethizontida) and might be more primitive in having a well-developed oesophagus. However, the type-species M. diacantha, of which a female specimen was studied, has a large buccal capsule and has evolved concave head, while M. arbuta has a reduced buccal capsule and primitive flat head. This last species is a parasite of a Nearctic porcupine and probably represents a small line of Molinema which migrated to the north with its hosts when communications were established between the two American continents 3 mya (Pleistocene). M. sprenti, the unique parasite of the Castoridae in North America, is considered to be derived from this group by capture.