MALAYSIAN PARASITES XV 
SEVEN NEW WORMS FROM MISCELLANEOUS HOSTS 
By 
A. A. SANDOSHAM 
Parasitic worms from various hosts were received before regular collections were started 
by the Colonial Office Research Unit. The following seven of these are here described 
as follows : 
A male Gordiid worm said to have been from man 
Paragonimus macacae n. sp. (Troglotrematidae) from a monkey 
Setaria thomasi n. sp. (Filariidae) from a wild pig 
Setaria javensis Vevers, 1922 (Filariidae) from a mouse-deer 
Gnathostoma dolor esi Tubangui, 1925 (Spiruridae) from a pig 
Proleptus malayi n. sp. (Physalopteridae) from a dogfish 
Africana singaporensis n. sp. (Heterakidae) from a toad 
A Male Gordiid worm said to have been passed per anum by a Malayan patient 
The specimen was in the collection of the Department of Biology of King Edward VII 
College of Medicine, Singapore, with a slip of paper in the specimen tube with the following 
legend Passed per anum by patient at Kampar Hospital, September 1930.” Parasitological 
oddities in Malaya have a way to trickling down to the Department of Biology in Singapore 
and it is not improbable that the information contained is correct. It is possible that the 
specimen did not excite the curiosity it deserved and was set aside because there was no one 
in the department competent to report on it at that time. If this assumption is correct, this 
case in Malaya is added as yet another record of the rare parasitisation of man by a Gordiid 
worm. 
Description (Fig. 1) 
The specimen is an elongated opaque dark brown worm, measuring 31 mm in length and 1.5 mm in 
diameter. The anterior end is more or less rounded, with two lip-like structures bordering the mouth. 
No lateral lines are seen. The cuticle from the middle of the worm appears smooth without areoles in 
lacto-phenol solution. The posterior end is bifurcated behind the anus. A post-anal crescent is well 
developed. In view of the above characters, it is considered to belong to the family Gordiidae Diesing 
of the Nematomorpha. As pointed out by Baylis (1943), the nomenclature and determination of this 
group have become a matter of great complexity and the writer does not feel competent to express any 
opinion beyond assigning it to the only genus in the Family, Gordius sensu stricto. 
Twenty-three cases of 4 parasitism 5 by Gordiacean worms are recorded in man, none of which is 
from Asia. Of these, only seven belong to the Family Gordiidae and Sayad et al. (1936) believe that 
their case report is the only authentic record of accidental parasitism by a gordiid worm in man. 
References 
Baylis H. A. (1943). — Notes on the distribution of hairworms (Nematomorpha : Gordiidae) in the British 
Isles. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond ., 113, Ser. B, 193-197. 
Sayad W. Y., Johnson W. M. and Faust E. C. (1936). Human parasitization with Gordius robustus. 
J. Amer. med. Assn., 106, 461-462. 
Paragonimus macacae n. sp. from a monkey 
One of the long-tailed or so-called crab-eating macaques (Macaca irus Cuvier) used for 
experimental purposes at what was then the King Edward VII College of Medicine, Singapore, 
died and the post-mortem examination revealed the presence of many lung flukes belonging 
to the genus Paragonimus Braun, 1899. 
STUD. INST. MED. RES. 
