New host records of Brazilian pentastomid species

Pentastomida is a taxon of parasitic organisms infecting generally the respiratory system of vertebrates, mainly reptiles. Although this taxon is very important for understanding the phylogeny of the Metazoa, it has received little attention. In Brazil, there are few collections that include species of pentastomids, that is, only the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CHIOC), the Invertebrate Collection of the Zoology Laboratory of the Regional University of Cariri (LAZ-URCA) and the Helminthological Collection of the Botucatu Institute of Biosciences (CHIBB). The present study describes the species of pentastomids deposited in CHIBB. When found, the pentastomids were mounted on slides in Hoyer's medium and identified. Four species of pentastomids were recognised and three others were identified at the genus level, while four new hosts for the species of pentastomids were recorded.

Type material housed in the Helminthological Collection of the Museo de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

A catalogue of type specimens of the Helminthological Collection of the División Zoología Invertebrados, of Museo deLa Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), Argentina, is presented. It includes Platyhelmithes, Nematoda, Nematomorpha and Acan-thocephala. The collection comprises type lots for 217 species: 90 nematodes, 50 digeneans, 28 Nematomorpha, 19 mono-geneans, 17 turbellarians, 8 cestodes and 5 acanthocephalans. Specific names are listed systematically, followed by type host, type locality, specimens, collection number and bibliographic reference.

Checklist of helminth parasites of cetaceans from Brazil

Based on published records and unpublished information retrieved from the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CHIOC), a checklist of the helminth parasites of cetaceans from Brazil was generated. A total of 215 records of 18 species of helminths were associated with 22 species of cetaceans in Brazil. Six species determined only to genus were also included. The majority of these helminth species are nematodes (33.3%) and trematodes (33.3%), which total 66.6% of the helminth fauna of cetaceans from Brazil. The Acanthocephala represents 22.2% of species, and the Cestoda 11.1%.

Checklist of helminth parasites of threatened vertebrate species from Brazil

Using available records, unpublished information retrieved from the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CHIOC) and published reports, a checklist of the recorded helminth parasites of endangered vertebrates from Brazil was generated. A total of 772 records and 186 helminth species (6 Acanthocephala, 83 Nematoda, 23 Cestoda, 64 Trematoda, 10 Monogenea) in 76 host species (7 Actinopterygii, 8 Chondrichthyes, 1 Amphibia, 10 Reptilia, 22 Aves, 28 Mammalia) from Brazil were listed in the present work, including 39 undetermined helminth species and 10 new host records. This is the first compilation of the helminth parasites of threatened vertebrates in Brazil and in the Neotropics.

The first record of Dracunculus mulbus (Nematoda: Dracunculidae) in the Papuan olive python Apodora papuana (Ophidia: Boidae)

A male specimen of Dracunculus (Nematoda: Dracunculidae), collected in 1973 from the lung of the Papuan olive python Apodora papuana (Peters et Doria) and now deposited in the helminthological collection of the Natural History Museum in London, is identified as Dracunculus mulbus Jones et Mulder, 2007, a species recently described from the water python Liasis fuscus Peters in northern Australia. Apodora papuana is a new host record for D. mulbus and Papua New Guinea is apparently a new geographical record.

Status of two nematode type species from the Bacteriological Institute of São Paulo included in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CHIOC)

The present deposit status of two nematode type species, Cruzia tentaculata (Rudolphi, 1819) and Katlania leptura (Rudolphi, 1819), now included in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute is informed.

Helminths of rabbits (Lagomorpha, Leporidae) deposited in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute

Helminth samples (n = 35) recovered from Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758) Lilljeborg, 1873 (3) and from another rabbit species, Sylvilagus brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758) Thomas, 1901 (32), from August 1909 to February 1948 and that are deposited in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute were analyzed. The studied samples were represented by the cysticercus of the cestode Taenia pisiformis (Bloch, 1780) and by the nematodes Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819), Vianella fariasi (Travassos, 1915), Longistriata perfida Travassos, 1943, Trichostrongylus retortaeformis (Zeder, 1800). The scope of the present investigation is to survey the parasites infecting these hosts, commonly used as laboratory animal models in scientific research and supply figurative data on the helminths in order to provide their easy identification, since the presence of autochthonous parasite burdens, if undetected or misinterpreted, can alter the final results of experimental assays, mainly those related to immunological approaches, when cross-reactions can occur.