Bacciger varanasiensis ( Agarwal & Kumar 1977 ) Dronen & Blend & Mohammed & Bannai, 2021

Dronen, Norman O., Blend, Charles K., Mohammed, Essa T. & Bannai, Majid, 2021, Reconsideration of the species assigned to Faustula Poche, 1926 (Digenea: Microphalloidea) with the proposal of five new genera in the Faustulidae Poche, 1926, Zootaxa 5027 (2), pp. 231-253 : 250

Bacciger varanasiensis ( Agarwal & Kumar 1977) n. comb.

Faustula varanasiensis (see fig. 1 of Agarwal & Kumar 1977) was described by Agarwal & Kumar (1977) in T. ilisha from the Ganges River, Varanasi, India. It resembles species of Faustula by having a median to slightly submedian, genital pore located immediately posterior to the intestinal bifurcation; gonads that overlap the ventral sucker to some extent; a coiled seminal vesicle; vitelline fields that range from the level of the esophagus to the level of the posterior margins of the testes or more posteriorly and a uterus that reaches posterior beyond the testes, distributed mainly in the hindbody. However, this species differs from species of Faustula by having an oval body form with broadly truncated extremities vs the more typical elliptical body form that is more indicative of species of Faustula ; testes located at the midlevel of the body and a submedian cirrus sac that extensively overlaps the level of the ventral sucker extending about the length of it into the intertesticular space and reaching the anterior margin of the ovary. It should be noted that this species is most similar to species of Bacciger and we propose this species be assigned to Bacciger as Bacciger varanasiensis ( Agarwal & Kumar 1977) n. comb. However, the combination of characteristics displayed by this species, especially the unusually extensive posterior extent of the cirrus sac (extending well posterior to the ventral sucker), suggests that it may represent an undescribed genus.