Aptorchis sp.

Type host:

Oblong turtle, Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841

Localities

Type locality: Tone River, Tone River Bridge, Boyup Brook Road, Western Australia, 34° 13.657'S, 116° 42.318'E

Other localities: Perup Pond, Perup Nature Reserve, Western Australia, 34° 10.511’S, 116° 35.503’E; Lake Joondalup, Joondalup, Perth, Western Australia 31° 45.694’S, 115° 47.259’E; Lake Seppings, Albany, Western Australia, 35° 00.752’S, 117° 54.981’E; Marsea Lake, Manjimup, Western Australia, 34° 06.643S, 116° 14.321’E

Type specimens:

Holotype: Queensland Museum (QM) no. _____________. Paratypes: QM no. _______________; Harold W. Manter Laboratory no. ________________.

GenBank number: ________

Description (from Snyder and Tkach, in press)

All measurements in micrometers. Measurements based on 15 adult specimens, 5 from type locality and 10 from 4 other localities; measurements of holotype in text; measurements of entire series used in description in Table 1. Body elongate, widest near ventral sucker; body length 2,026, body width at level of ventral sucker 400. Body width 19.7% of body length. Tegument thick, spined, spination heaviest anterior of ventral sucker; spines decrease in size and density as they extend to posterior end. Oral sucker rounded, subterminal, 100 long x 103 wide, slightly smaller than rounded ventral sucker, 250 x 241. Ventral sucker situated in anterior half of body at 34.4% of body length, periphery of sucker surrounded with several rows of densely packed, minute spines; larger, less densely packed spines occupy remainder of sucker.

Prepharynx 191 long, widening posteriorly. Muscular pharynx, 118 long x 100 wide. Esophagus 96, surrounded by group of glandular cells. Intestinal bifurcation 470 from anterior end of body. Ceca nearly reach posterior end of body, terminating 113 from end.

Testes 2, oblique, spherical to subspherical, postovarian, ventral to and slightly overlapping ceca in posterior third of body. Anterior testis 145 long x 123 wide, posterior testis 144 x 125. Cirrus sac very large, 727 long x 80 wide, ventral to ceca, arching extracecally along 1 lateral margin of ventral sucker. Base of cirrus sac well posterior of posterior margin of ventral sucker, extending to level of ovary. Cirrus sac with bipartite internal seminal vesicle, very large pars prostatica. Everted cirrus not observed. Genital pore ventral, submedian, dextral or sinistral, anterior to ventral sucker, 590 from anterior end of body.

Ovary spherical to subspherical, 147 long x 117 wide, median to submedian, dorsal to ceca situated just anterior to anterior testis at level of proximal portion of cirrus sac. Seminal receptacle thick-walled, 85 long x 68 wide, posterio-oblique to ovary. Vitellarium consists of small, irregularly shaped follicles, arranged in lateral fields, occasionally confluent, partly overlapping ceca, extending between ventral sucker and posterior end of ceca. Ootype and Mehlis' gland ventral to seminal receptacle, overlapping or slightly posterior to seminal vesicle. Laurer's canal not visible in total mounts. Uterus ventral to other organs, mostly intra- and post-cecal, with occasional extracecal loops. Metraterm approximately as long as cirrus sac, originating ventral of proximal portion of cirrus sac and passing dorsal to cirrus sac before opening into genital atrium. Eggs operculate, 31 x 16. Excretory pore terminal; excretory vesicle Y-shaped with short branches, reaches level of ovary.

Illustrations

Authors: Vasyl V. Tkach, Scott D. Snyder, Yuriy Kuzmin