Abstract:
Five Swainson’s spurfowl collected in Free State Province, South Africa, were
examined for helminth parasites, and the nematodes Acuaria gruveli, Cyrnea
parroti, Gongylonema congolense, Subulura dentigera, Subulura suctoria and a new
Tetrameres species were recovered. Their respective prevalence was 100, 20, 80,
20, 20 and 20%. These nematodes are all new parasite records for Swainson’s
spurfowl, and Acuaria gruveli constitutes a new geographical record as well.
A single specimen of Cyrnea eurycerca was found in an Orange River francolin,
representing a new host and geographical record for this parasite. The new
species, for which the name Tetrameres swainsonii is proposed, can be differentiated
from its congeners by a combination of the following characters of males:
two rows of body spines, a single spicule which is 1152–1392 mm long, and eight
pairs of caudal spines arranged in two ventral and two lateral rows of four spines
each. The single female has the globular shape typical of the genus.
