Australophiotaenia, Chambrier & Beveridge & Scholz, 2018

Chambrier, Alain De, Beveridge, Ian & Scholz, Tomáš, 2018, Tapeworms (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae) of Australian reptiles: hidden diversity of strictly host-specific parasites, Zootaxa 4461 (4), pp. 477-498 : 491

Australophiotaenia sp. 2

Host. Eastern tiger snake, Notechis scutatus (Peters, 1861) ( Ophidia : Elapidae ).

Distribution. Australia (Victoria).

Material studied. Six incomplete specimens in numerous pieces (four whole mounts) from N. scutatus (host field No. AUS 122; paragenophore deposited as MHNG-PLAT-34205) in Victoria, Frankston (19°20'50''S 146°51'28''E); one specimen (three whole mounts) from N. scutatus (host field No. AUS 127, MHNG-PLAT- 34206) in the same locality. Two incomplete specimens in pieces (four whole mounts) from N. scutatus from Mulhins Swamp, near Penola, SA (SAM 16300).

Remarks. As with Australophiotaenia sp. 1, this is likely another new species, whose sequences of rrn L and cox 1 ( KC786002 and KC785989 , respectively) were provided by Scholz et al. (2013). However, the poor quality of the material available, collected from a frozen host, impedes formal description of this new taxon. This cestode possesses 111–131 testes, a pre-equatorial genital pore (at 36–45% of the length of the proglottid) and 15–23 uterine branches on each side ( Table 2).