— 713 — 
that the authors believed that Zeder’s and Schneider’s descriptions were of the same 
species. However, in a publication later the same year, Railliet & Henry (19166) 
indicated Schneider had examined a different species from Zeder. They proposed 
Zeder’s species be placed in Aplecta (= Aplectana), and the type species of Oxysomatium 
was given as the description by Schneider under the new name Oxysomatium longespi- 
culum (= Oxysoma brevicaudatum sensu Schneider, nec Zeder, nec Railliet & Henry, 1916a). 
Unfortunately, Schneider’s description is incomplète by présent standards and Railliet 
& Henry did not provide an adéquate redescription. 
Schneider’s original specimens (2 <J and 12 Ç) hâve been examined and compared 
with numerous cosmocercoids from various amphibians and reptiles. Both male worms 
are kathlanioids of the genus Falcaustra Lane, 1915 (= Spironoura) since the cephalic 
structures are typical of that genus, the œsophageal isthmus is swollen into a subsphaerical 
shape which is characteristic of many kathlanioids, and there is a shallow sucker on the 
ventral caudal surface 1 . The female worms are ail of the Subfamily Cosmocercinae and 
they belong to O. brevicaudatum (Zeder). 
Haiitwich (1975) also examined Schneider’s specimens and he designated them 
syntypes of 0. longespiculum. His resdescription failed to demonstrate that the males 
and females are of different species. To conserve the much published name Oxysomatium 
one female worm (illustrated by Hartwich, 1975, fig. 80c) is designated lectotype of 
O. longespiculum. This permits O. longespiculum to be synonymized with O. brevicauda¬ 
tum (Zeder, 1800) Railliet & Henry, 1916a. 
Oxysoma conlortum Linstow, 1906, is treated herein as a synonym of O. brevicaudatum. 
Although the original description of O. contortum is not detailed, the presence of conspi- 
cuously elongate spiculés and the illustration given of the short male tail is most similar 
to O. brevicaudatum. Also O. contortum was reported from Bufo bufo, a common host 
for O. brevicaudatum, in a locality (Balkans and Greece) where O. brevicaudatum has been 
reported. It is most unlikely that two different species with distinctively long spiculés 
occur in the same host species in the same locality. 
Khalil (1932) reported Aplectana contorta in Bufo regularis 2 of Liberia, Africa. This 
is far from other locality reports of this species and it is lilcely that an error of identification 
was made. Similarly Walton (1927) reported Oxysomatium longespiculum in a salamander 
from North America and this is a doubtful identification. 
2. Oxysomatium caucasicum (Sharpilo, 1974) n. comb. 
Neoxysomatium caucasicum Sharpilo, 1974. 
O. caucasicum was described from Anguis fragilis in the Caucasus. Specimens are not 
available for study. This species cannot be distinguished from O. brevicaudatum in the mor- 
phology of the anterior extremity, shape of the male and female tail, number and distribution 
1. These males probably belong to Falcaustra armenica (Massino, 1924) which has a similar male 
caudal morphology and is the only Falcaustra sp. recorded from Western Europe. F. armenica is usually 
a parasite of freshwater turtlcs and it may be rare in anuran amphibians. 
2. “ Bujo regularis " of Africa is a complex of several closely related species of Bufo. 
Source : MNHN, Paris 
