Anindobothrium myliobatidis García Facal & Franzese & Montes & Menoret 2024, comb. nov.

Anindobothrium myliobatidis (Brooks, Mayes & Thorson, 1981) comb. nov. Fig. 8 Phyllobothrium myliobatidis Brooks, Mayes & Thorson, 1981 (Syn.). Type material. Holotype • an entire, mature worm, Río de la Plata estuary near Montevideo, Uruguay, July 1979, T. B. Thorson leg., USNM No. 1371266. Paratypes • three entire, mature worms, same data as preceding, USNM No. 1371267. Amended diagnosis. Based on type material (holotype USNM No. 1371266 and 3 paratypes USNM No. 1371267). Worms euapolytic, 10.56–18.48 (14.04 ± 3.67, n = 4) mm long (Fig. 8 A), proglottids acraspedote. Scolex 1,012 –1,960 (1,385 ± 505, n = 3) long, 1,228 –2,015 (1,517 ± 433, n = 3) wide, composed of four stalked bothridia (Fig. 8 A, C, E). Bothridia orbicular-shaped, with marginal loculi and anterior apical sucker. Transverse and longitudinal septa absent (Fig. 8 C, E). Cephalic peduncle present. Immature proglottid, initially wider than long, becoming longer than wide with maturity. Most terminal proglottids and some subterminal proglottids with sperm-filled vas deferens (Fig. 8 A, B). Terminal mature proglottids 1,597 –2,670 (2,333 ± 564, n = 3) long, 345–412 (387 ± 36, n = 3) wide, length to width ratio 4.6–6.6 (5.7 ± 1.0, n = 3): 1. Testes round to oval, arranged anteroposteriorly in several columns, 2 layers deep; each column extending from anterior margin of proglottid reaching anterior margin of ovary (Fig. 8 D). Vitellarium follicular; vitelline follicles oval, in 2 dorsal and 2 ventral columns on each lateral margin of proglottid, lateral to testes, extending from near anterior margin of proglottid to posterior margin of proglottid, partly interrupted at level of terminal genitalia, uninterrupted by ovary (Fig. 8 A, B, D). Host. Myliobatis goodei Garman, 1855, Southern eagle ray (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae). Site of infection: spiral intestine. Distribution. Anindobothrium myliobatidis comb. nov. is known from off the estuary of Río de La Plata near Montevideo, Uruguay, in the Warm Temperate SWA Marine Province. Remarks. Phyllobothrium myliobatidis of Brooks et al. (1981) is herein transferred to Anindobothrium on the basis of the type material examined in this study. The amended diagnosis includes modifications to accommodate the new observations of the morphological features, such as a scolex consisting of four orbicular-shaped bothridia with marginal loculi and an apical sucker, a terminal proglottid with a sperm-filled vas deferens, a reduced number of testes, and testes distributed in two layers deep (Fig. 8). Additionally, some morphological measurements (i. e., total length of tapeworms, size of the scolex, and terminal proglottids) were provided for the first time. Therefore, A. myliobatidis comb. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners as follows: A. anacolum, A. carrioni, and A. inexpectatum belong to subset 1 by having ellipsoid-shaped bothridia with longitudinal and transverse septa, whereas A. myliobatidis comb. nov. belongs to subset 2 by possessing orbicular-shaped bothridia with marginal loculi (Fig. 6 A, B). Anindobothrium myliobatidis comb. nov. is also different from those three species along with A. danielae sp. nov. and A. lisae by possessing more proglottids per worm (50–75 vs. 8–33, 20–33, 23–49, 15–39, and 7–24, respectively) and more testes per proglottid (122–150 vs. 24–50, 21–31, 23–44, 76–115, and 30–72, respectively). Anindobothrium myliobatidis comb. nov. further differs from A. danielae sp. nov. in the number of marginal loculi (83–90 vs. 101–121).