Tapeworms (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae) of Australian reptiles: hidden diversity of strictly host-specific parasites Author Chambrier, Alain De Author Beveridge, Ian Author Scholz, Tomáš text Zootaxa 2018 2018-08-23 4461 4 477 498 journal article 28967 10.11646/zootaxa.4461.4.2 4088067b-9ee8-4fea-b597-059a9de5b6e2 1175-5326 1460246 838E32FD-05BE-47D4-9CF1-E96E7F1C08FF Australophiotaenia gallardi ( Johnston, 1911 ) n. comb. — type species Syns Ichthyotaenia sp. of Johnston (1910) ; Proteocephalus gallardi Johnston, 1911 ; Acanthotaenia gallardi ( Johnston, 1911 ) Johnston, 1913 ; Crepidobothrium gallardi ( Johnston, 1911 ) Meggitt, 1927 ; Ophiotaenia gallardi ( Johnston, 1911 ) Freze, 1965 Type and probably only host. Red-bellied black snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus (Shaw, 1794) ( Ophidia : Elapidae ). Site of infection. Intestine. Type locality. Gippsland , Victoria , Australia ( 37°51'S , 147°35'E ). Distribution. Australia ( New South Wales , Queensland and Victoria ). References. Johnston (1911 , 1912 , 1913 ), Zehnder and Mariaux (1999) , de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) , Scholz et al. (2013) . Material studied. See de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) , who designated lectotype (QM G12/110). Redescription. See de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) . Remarks. This species was described as Proteocephalus gallardi by Johnston (1911) based on tapeworms found by A. S. Le Soeuf in red-bellied black snake ( Pseudechis porphyriacus ) in Gippsland, Victoria , Australia . However, de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) , who studied the type material of the species, revealed that a mixture of two markedly distinct species from two different genera was used for the original description of P. gallardi (= A. gallardi ). They redescribed A. gallardi , designated lectotype and paralectotypes , and proposed a new genus, Vandiermenia , to accommodate the second, new species, V. beveridgei de Chambrier and de Chambrier, 2010 . Johnston (1912 , 1913 ) reported A. gallardi also from three other venomous snakes in the vicinity of Sydney, namely Notechis scutatus (Peters, 1861) , Denisonia superba (Günther, 1858) [now Austrelaps superbus (Günther, 1858) ] and Pseudechis australis (Gray, 1842) . However, de Chambrier and de Chambrier (2010) questioned the identification of these cestodes as A. gallardi . Tapeworms from N. scutatus represent a new, yet undescribed species designated here as Australophiotaenia sp. 2 (see below). Zehnder and Mariaux (1999) presented sequences of lsr DNA and rrn L of this putative new species, whereas Scholz et al. (2013) provided sequences of ssr DNA, lsr DNA, rrn L and cox 1 of A. gallardi ( KC786014 , KC786025 , KC786003 and KC785990 , respectively) from the type host, P. porphyriacus in Brisbane , Queensland, Australia (host field No. AUS 7—paragenophore as MHNG- PLAT 36550). Australophiotaenia gallardi can be distinguished from congeners in reptiles in Australia by the following characteristics: a large strobila ( 375–400 mm ), the presence of an apical organ, low number of the testes (67–103) and a large embryophore (diameter of 37–40 µm).