Neoliga, Singh, 1952

Mariaux, Jean & Georgiev, Boyko B., 2018, Seven new species of cestode parasites (Neodermata, Platyhelminthes) from Australian birds, European Journal of Taxonomy 440, pp. 1-42 : 11-13

Neoliga sp.

Material examined

AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Sydney, 33.48′ S, 151°6′ E, 2005, Karie Rose leg., 1 spec. in two parts, rather good condition but no gravid proglottides, on same slide as type material of Notopentorchis musealis sp. nov. (AHC 36479); multiple small to minute fragments in bad condition, co-infection with Notopentorchis musealis sp. nov. (AHC 33108).

Host

Hirundapus caudacutus (Latham, 1801) ( Apodiformes , Apodidae ).

Description

The available material is not sufficient to allow for a full description. Scolex 310 in diameter. Suckers weak, oval, 205–220 in diameter. Rostellar pouch 250 × 125, weakly muscular. Rostellum 250 × 100, bearing an incomplete (14 hooks observed, likely> 20 when complete) double crown of subequal hooks, 46–49 long, with small epyphisis on guard. Genital pores alternating mostly regularly. Testes in single posterior field, in two layers, 23–27 in number. Cirrus-sac very large and strong, reaching antiporal excretory canals. Cirrus armed terminally. Vagina opening anteriorly (or dorsally) to cirrus-sac in a wellmarked ductus hermaphroditus connected to deep and wide atrium. Vagina dorsal to cirrus-sac strongly marked, terminating with characteristic sclerotized clamp [“dumb-bell organ”, see Bona (1994), or “vaginal sclerites”, see Dimitrova et al. (2013)]. Ovary central, deeply multilobulated, with digitiform lobes. Genital ducts dorsal to osmoregulatory canals. Young uterus saccular.

Remarks

This material belongs to the genus Neoliga Singh, 1952 as defined by Bona (1994), a genus specific to swifts and tree swifts ( Apodidae ) and known from Morocco to India, Java and Siberia. Four species are listed by Spasskaya & Spasskii (1977), but the present material does not allow for a detailed comparison. There is no known species of this genus in Australia, but given the migratory pattern of the whitethroated needletail it is quite possible that parasites from Siberian hosts could be found in Australia. This confirms the prediction of Bona (1994) that the genus distribution is probably wider than presently known.