DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF NEM- 

 ATODE WORM OCCURRING IN THE NORTHWESTERN 

 BELTED KINGFISHER, WITH A KEY TO THE GENERA 

 OF THE SUBFAMILY ACUARIINAE 



By EvEEETT E. Wehr 



Assistant Zoologist, Zoological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, United 

 States Range Livestock Exjjeriment Station, Miles City, Mont. 



Underneath the corneous membrane of the gizzard of the north- 

 western belted kingfisher {CeryJe alcyon ca'U7^ina)^ a bird quite com- 

 mon about the lakes and streams of the United States Range Live- 

 stock Experiment Station, Miles City, Mont., small nematodes occur 

 very frequently. The nematode belongs to the family Acuariidae 

 Seurat, 1913, and to the subfamily Acuariinae Railliet, Henry, and 

 Sisoff, 1912. This species belongs to a new genus, for which the name 

 Aviculariella is proposed. 



The author wishes to express his sincere thanks to Dr. Eloise B. 

 Cram, also of the zoological division, for her very helpful suggestions 

 during the course of this study. 



AVICULARIELLA, new genus 



Generic diagnosis. — Acuariinae : Body delicate, slender, and taper- 

 ing toward the extremities. Cuticle about head inflated. Cordons 

 restricted to cephalic region, triangular, serrated on their inner 

 borders, not recurrent, but anastomosing posteriorly in pairs in the 

 lateral fields. Spicules unequal and dissimilar. Caudal alae present. 

 Vulva near anus. Parasitic in the gizzard of birds. 



Type species. — Aviculariella alcyona^ new species. 



AVICULARIELLA ALCYONA, new species 



Figures 1 to 5 



SpeoifiG diagnosis. — Aviculariella: Cuticle of the cephalic region 

 much inflated. The cordons, which are confined to the cephalic re- 

 gion, are triangular in shape. Posteriorly the two cordons of each 

 side do not anastomose in an exactly straight line across the body, but 

 anastomose after they have curved very slightly toward the head end. 



Male. — 6 to 7 mm. long by 102/1, wide near the equator of the body. 

 The body is very slender and tapers gradually toward the two ex- 

 No. 2871.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 79, Art. 5. 



52397—31 1 



