New species of Syphacia (Syphacia) Seurat (Nematoda: Oxyuridae) from Pseudomys species (Rodentia: Muridae) from central Australia

Abstract

Syphacia (Syphacia) brevicaudata sp. nov. is described from the desert rodents Pseudomys desertor Troughton, 1936 and P. hermannsburgensis (Waite, 1896); Syphacia (Syphacia) pseudomyos sp. nov. is described from P. hermannsburgensis from western Queensland and central Northern Territory, Australia. Syphacia (Syphacia) brevicaudata is distinguished from all other species of Syphacia by having a suite of characters including an oval, dorsally and ventrally constricted cephalic plate, no cervical alae, a relatively short tail and two pairs of post-anal papillae. Syphacia (Syphacia) pseudomyos is distinguished from all other species of Syphacia by having a suite of characters including an oval, dorsally and ventrally constricted cephalic plate, no cervical or lateral alae, one pair of post-anal papillae, a relatively short tail and large eggs. Females of a putative species were distinct due to the lack of a cephalic plate but had other characters consistent with the genus. Two other putative species of Syphacia, females only, also collected from P. hermannsburgensis and having oval dorsally and ventrally constricted cephalic plates, could be distinguished from their congeners by a combination of characters including the presence of cervical alae, Syphacia sp. 2, and a protruding vulva, Syphacia sp. 3. These new species are the first records of oxyurid nematodes from the genus Pseudomys, and from Australian arid-zone rodents.