TREMATODOS DE LAS TORTUGAS DE MEXICO. VII DESCRIPCION DE UN TREMATODO DIGENEO QUE PARASITA A TORTUGAS MARINAS COMESTIBLES DEL PUERTO DE ACAPULCO, GUERRERO

Resumen

The present study is a further contribution to our knowledge of the trematode fauna of turtles in Mexíco. Cymatocarpus undulatus Looss, 1899 is described from the small intestine of Chelone mydas (L.) collected in marine waters at the port of Acapulco, Guerrero.
Classification of this species has been based on the form of the digestive apparatus, and situation of the reproductive and vitelline glands, and overall, on the structure of the cirrus pouch and metraterm. In our example the seminal receptacle is very poorly developed, being reduced to a weakly defined sack with thin and
delicate walls; we have interpreted this as an indication that the organ is unstable and undergoing physiological and anatomical regresión.
A similar condition has been observed in examples of Cymatocarpus soleare (Braun, 1901) described by this German helminthologist in 1901, who in his description denied the presence of both seminal receptacle and metraterm; Braun has misinterpreled the metraterm in his drawing as being a part of the male copulatory organ. It is our opinion that at the present time there is a single species in the genus Cymatocarpus Looss, 1899 and that C. soleare (Braun, 1901) is a synonym of the species of Looss; dimensional variance between these species does not constitute a differential character since it is well known that such variation may exist among individuals within any given species.