NEMATODOS DE LOS REPTILES DE MEXICO. VII. ACERCA DE LA PRESENCIA DE Camallanus scabrae MacCallum, 1918 EN LAS TORTUGAS DE AGUA DULCE, DEL SURESTE DE MEXICO

Resumen

In Chitwood's brief note, the North American species of the genus Camallanus all are considered a s synonyms of C. microcephalus (Dujardin, 1845), but Tornquist in its excellent monograph of the families Cucullanidae and Camallanidae el the Nematoda, considers as valid MacCallum's Camallanus scabrae and also reduces to synonyms of this species all other North American species parasites of turtles. We agree with the sweedish helminthologist.
In one of our previous papers (Parasitology, 31(4):448, 1939) we have shown that these Nematoda have structures of great systematic value as the chitinous ridges of the valvae of the buccal capsule; the shape of the "tridents"; the shape of the spicules and the number and distribution of the caudal papillae.
Our specimens present in each buccal valve 12 large exterior ridges, 2 inner short ones and a middle small one, 15 in all, which make this species different from C. scabrae which has 17 ridges, not considering the other characters which are quite similar, chiefly the number and arrangement of the caudal papillae; the shape of the "tridents" and the size and structure of the papillae.