A NEW NEMATODE FEOM THE EHEA 



By Everett E. Wehk 



Zoological Division, Bureau of Animal Indusim, United States Department of 



Agriculture 



On April 22, 1927, Dr. E. W. Price, of the zoological division, 

 collected a number of nematodes from the gizzard and proventriculiis 

 of a bird {Rhea amerlcana) that had died at the National Zoological 

 Park, Washington, D. C. The males of these nematodes are of par- 

 ticular interest in that they possess remarkably long and slender 

 spicules, which are equal in length and similar in appearance. As 

 one of the diagnostic characters of the superfamily Spiruroidea is 

 the possession of dissimilar spicules, and as this nematode must go in 

 the Spiruroidea by virtue of its other characters, the definition of 

 the superfamily will have to be emended to include this genus, the 

 emendation covering the presence of either similar or dissimilar 

 spicules. The definition of the family Spiruridae will also have to 

 be emended to include this character, as the new genus Odonto- 

 spirura, herein described, belongs to that family. 



Family SPIRURIDAE Oerley, 1885 



Fmnily diagnosis. — Spiruroidea: Mouth usually with two large 

 lateral lips. Esophagus long and cylindrical and divided into two 

 parts. Male with caudal alae well developed and supported by 

 pedunculated papillae, of which there are usually four preanal 

 pairs ; spicules usually dissimilar and unequal, sometimes similar and 

 equal. 



Subfamily Spirurinae Railliet, 1915 

 Subfamily diagnosis. — Spiruridae: Characters of the family. 



ODONTOSPIRURA, new genus 



Generic diagnosis. — Spirurinae: Mouth opening surrounded by 

 two large lateral lips and by two interlabia in the dorsal and ven- 

 tral fields, respectively. Four pairs of cephalic papillae are present 

 in the submedian fields, the two most dorsal and the two most ventral 

 of which are greatly reduced in size ; the papillae are near the base 



No. 2958.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 82. Art. 17 



15508S — ZZ ] 



