A NEW SPECIES OF PNEUMOATRACTIS (COSMOCERCOIDEA: ATRACTIDAE) FROM TWO SPECIES OF FRESHWATER TURTLES FROM THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON.

The monotypic genus PneumoatractisBursey, Reavill, and Greiner, 2009 was erected to allocate nematodes collected from the lungs of the freshwater turtle Podocnemis unifilis Troschel. During a helminthological survey of parasites from freshwater turtles of Tocantins and Xingu rivers, Pará State, eastern Amazon, Brazil, we found nematodes parasitizing the stomach and large intestine of Po. unifilis and Podocnemis expansa Schweigger. We assigned them to a new species of Pneumoatractis, which is described herein. Pneumoatractis gibbonsae n. sp. resembles Pneumoatractis podocnemis by the morphology of the oral opening, the position of the excretory pore, and the lanceolate shape of the spicules, but differs from it in males by having 10 pairs of caudal papillae plus 1 unpaired anterior to cloacal lip, different length of the right spicule, and short gubernaculum; it differs in females by the distances of vulva and anus from the posterior end respectively. We found the new species in a different infection site from that of the type species. Thus, this is the second species of Pneumoatractis described in Po. unifilis and the first in Po. expansa.

Oswaldocruzia lanfrediae n. sp. (Strongylida: Molineidae), a parasite of Leptodactylus paraensis Heyer (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in Brazil.

Leptodactylus paraensis Heyer, is a Neotropical anuran species that inhabits Rainforest habitats in the eastern Amazon, but because it has only been recently separated from the Leptodactylus pentadactylus (Laurenti) species group, little is known about its helminth fauna. This study describes a new species of Oswaldocruzia Travassos, 1917 and records the first occurrence of this genus parasitising L. paraensis and the second species for the Caxiuanã National Forest in the eastern Amazon, Brazil. Oswaldocruzia lanfrediae n. sp. is characterised by having an anterior extremity with a smooth cephalic vesicle divided into two portions, a claviform oesophagus, well-developed cuticular longitudinal ridges and lateral alae. Females have a well-developed ovojector, with didelphic and amphidelphic uteri. Males show complex robust spicules divided into a slightly curved shoe, a bifurcated fork and a blade terminating in 2-3 processes. The new species differs from its congeners especially regarding the lateral alae and the morphology of the spicules, in addition to morphometric characters such as body size, oesophagus length, deirid position, nerve-ring position and relative position of the vulva in females.

Two new species of Rhabdias Stiles et Hassall, 1905 (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae) from anuran amphibians in Pará, Brazil.

Two new lung-dwelling nematode species of the genus Rhabdias Stiles et Hassall, 1905 were discovered in Caxiuanã National Forest, Pará state, Brazil. Rhabdias galactonoti sp. n. was found in a dendrobatid frog Adelphobates galactonotus (Steindachner). The species is characterised by the regularly folded inner surface of the anterior part of the buccal capsule seen in apical view, flask-shaped oesophageal bulb and narrow, elongated tail. Rhabdias stenocephala sp. n. from two species of leptodactylid frogs, Leptodactylus pentadactylus (Laurenti) (type host) and L. paraensis (Heyer), is characterised by a narrow anterior end that is separated from the remaining body by a constriction. Both species possess six small but distinct lips, a cuticle that is inflated along the whole body, a doliiform buccal capsule separated into a longer anterior and a shallow, ring-shaped posterior part, lateral pores in the body cuticle and zones of spermatogenesis in the syngonia. Rhabdias galactonoti sp. n. is the first species of the genus found in Dendrobatidae; R. stenocephala sp. n. is the second species described from Leptodactylidae in eastern Amazonia.