Dracunculus fuelleborni, Cleveland & Garrett & Cozad & Williams & Murray & Yabsley, 2018

Cleveland, Christopher A., Garrett, Kayla B., Cozad, Rebecca A., Williams, Brianna M., Murray, Maureen H. & Yabsley, Michael J., 2018, The wild world of Guinea Worms: A review of the genus Dracunculus in wildlife, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 7 (3), pp. 289-300 : 298

4.5. Dracunculus fuelleborni

Dracunculus fuelleborni was first reported from the subcutaneous connective tissue of a big-eared opossum from Rio, Brazil (Travassos, 1934). Both male and female nematodes were obtained and, morphologically, the female resembled D. insignis , yet was nearly twice the length of recorded D. insignis specimens ( Table 1). Morphometrics of spicules and gubernaculum of males confirmed D. fuelleborni was a distinct species. However, this parasite has not been genetically characterized so the relationship between D. fuelleborni and other Dracunculus spp . has yet to be documented. Despite erroneous older reports that assumed worms detected in opossums were D. fuelleborni , it is not known to occur in North America. Our recent genetic data supports this assertion as opossums from Georgia ( USA) were infected with D. insignis ( Alexander et al., 1972; Cleveland unpublished data). Thus, to date, there have been no confirmed reports of D. fuelleborni since its initial description.