Leporidotaenia Genov, Murai, Georgiev & Harris, 1990

Haukisalmi, Voitto, 2009, A taxonomic revision of the genus Anoplocephaloides Baer, 1923 sensu Rausch (1976), with the description of four new genera (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae), Zootaxa 2057, pp. 1-31 : 12-13

Leporidotaenia Genov, Murai, Georgiev & Harris, 1990

(Fig. 4)

FIGURE. 4. Leporidotaenia romerolagi from Romerolagus diazi (redrawn from Genov et al. 1990). A. Mature proglottis (scale-bar 0.30 mm). B. Uterus in a pregravid proglottis (scale-bar 0.30 mm).

Remarks. Leporidotaenia romerolagi was assigned by Genov et al. (1990) as the type species to the genus Leporidotaenia along with three other, small-bodied species from leporids: L. wimerosa ( Moniez, 1880) , L. pseudowimerosa (Tenora, Murai, Valero & Cutillas, 1982) and L. floresbarroetae ( Rausch, 1976) . According to Genov et al. (1990), these four species are characterized by a spinose tegument, protrusible genital atrium, massive, muscular cirrus sac, presence of a retractor muscle associated with the cirrus sac, posterior position of the vaginal pore relative to the male orifice, presence of long spines on the cirrus and occurrence only in hosts of the family Leporidae . They also share a small body size, absence or shortness of a neck, anterior early uterus that may overlap but does not extend across the ventral longitudinal canals (Table 2). Because of their obvious similarity, L. romerolagi is compared mainly with the three other species assigned by Genov et al. (1990) to Leporidotaenia , but which are here proposed to comprise an independent, new genus ( Genovia n. g.; below).

Based on the original description ( Kamiya et al. 1979) and detailed redescriptions of Genov et al. (1990), L. romerolagi differs from L. wimerosa , L. pseudowimerosa and L. floresbarroetae by the alternation of the genital pores (tendency to regular alternation in L. romerolagi ), transverse extent of the testes (not overlapping the antiporal ventral canal in L. romerolagi ), structure of the fully developed (pregravid) uterus and, perhaps, the direction of the suckers (anterior in L. romerolagi , but the type specimen was fixed under pressure). The fully developed uterus of L. romerolagi has characteristic regularly shaped, digitiform sacculi, whereas the three other species have either an “arborescent” uterus characterized by irregular discrete sacculi and a distinct transverse trunk or typical sacculated uterus (see below). Based on the redescription of Genov et al. (1990), the uterus attains distinctly sacculated form already when all reproductive organs are present and apparently fully functional, in which respect L. romerolagi differs from all other species considered here. In the other species, uterus does not attain a sacculated form before the female glands have disappeared or are degenerating.

From the other species with an anterior early uterus that does not extend across the ventral longitudinal canals, Leporidotaenia differs in its significantly smaller body ( Sciurotaenia n. g., Flabelloskrjabinia Spasskii, 1951 ), regularly alternating genital pores ( Sciurotaenia , Flabelloskrjabinia ), fewer testes ( Sciurotaenia , Flabelloskrjabinia ), shorter cirrus sac ( Flabelloskrjabinia ), presence of a cirrus retractor muscle ( Sciurotaenia ) and structure of the fully developed uterus ( Sciurotaenia , Flabelloskrjabinia ) (Table 2).

Leporidotaenia romerolagi inhabits the bile duct of its host ( Romerolagus diazi ) ( Kamiya et al. 1979).