Macropostrongyloides		Contents		Rev 10/05/2024
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Macropostrongyloides menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
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Classification

Phylum:  Nematoda
Class:    Chromadorea

Chromadoria

Order:    Rhabditida 

Superfamily:  Strongyloidea

Family:  Chabertiidae

Subfamily: Phascolostrongylinae

Macropostrongyloides Yamaguti, 1961

Type species of the genus  Macropostrongyloides lasiorhini (Mawson, 1955) Yamaguti, 1961

Synonyms:

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Morphology and Anatomy:

The name of the genus Macropostrongyoides is derived from the family name of its important hosts in the family Macropodidae (kangaroos). Macropostrongyloides  was created for M. lasiorhini which, unlike species of Macropostrongylus, has four teeth in the buccal capsule.

The genus Paramacropostrongylus differs from Macrostrongyloides in that it does not have four teeth in the buccal capule. In that character it is closer to Macrostongylus (Mawson, 1955; Johnston and Mawson, 1940; Yamaguti, 1961; Beveridge and Mawson, 1978). Of couse, other characteristsics, particularly of the male bursa, distinguish the genera and the species within them.

Macrostrongyloides phascolomys and M. lasiorhini are very similar and easily confused. Females of the two species are indistinguishable and the only character separating the males is the morphology of the genital cone (Sukee et al., 2021).

General chracteristics of the genus:

• Robust nematodes, pink color. Body without transverse striations.
•  Anterior extremity with prominent cephalic collar, pierced by four sub-conical, sub-medial papillae and two lateral amphids;
• Mouth opening circular; four triangular sub-median teeth on anterior wall of buccal capsule, project into lumen; petaloid membrane present between teeth and wall of buccal capsule; bifid or trifid membranous structure present at anterior margin of buccal capsule, internal to each amphid; paired denticles present on anterior margin of buccal capsule dorsally and ventrally;
• Buccal capsule sub-cylindrical, heavily sclerotized; duct of dorsal oesophageal gland runs within wall of buccal capsule and at mid-length, divides internally to form Y-shaped dorsal gutter
• Esophagus clavate; nerve ring in anterior third of esophagus at slight oesophageal constriction; deirid papillate, at level of nerve ring; excretory pore at about same level as deirid and nerve ring.

Male:

• Spicules long, alate.
• Gubernaculum present.
• Bursa with centroventral and ventrolateral rays fused; externolateral ray divergent from other lateral rays; externodorsal ray arising from dorsal ray; dorsal ray with 2 major branches, each bifid distally

Female:

• Tail short, conical;
• Vulva close to anus; vagina very short, Y-shaped or T-shaped; ovejectors lead into short vaginae uterinae.
• Amphidelphic, uteri paired, sac-like, prodelphic.
• Egg thin-shelled, ellipsoidal.

Ref: Sukee et al., 2021; Beveridge and Mawson, 1978

Body size range for the species of this genus in the database - Click:

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Distribution

Australia: Victoria, New South Wales.

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Economic Importance:

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Hosts:

Parasites of stomach and large intestine of herbivorous macropodid and vombatid marsupials

Species desceribed from wombats (Vombatus and Lassiorhinus spp.); intestinal parasites, reported from colon.

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Feeding

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Life Cycle:

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Damage:

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Management:

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References:

Beveridge, I., Mawson, P.M. 1978. A Taxonomic Revision of the Genera Macropostrongyloides Yamaguti and Param~cropostrongylus Johnston & Mawson (Nematoda : Trichonematidae) from Australian Marsupials. Australian J. Zoology 26:763-787.

Beveridge, I., Spratt, D.M.  and Durette-Desset, M-C. 2014. Order Strongylida (Railliet and Henry, 1913). In Schmidt-Raesa, A. (ed). Handbook of Zoology: Gastroctricha, Cycloneurelia and Gnathifera. Vol 2. Nematoda. De Gruyter, Berlin

Johnston, T.H., and Mawson, P.M. 194). Nematodes from South Australia. Trans. R. Soc. South Australia 64:95-100.

Mawson, P.M. 1955. Some parasites of Australian vertebrates. Trans. R. Soc. SSouth Australia 78:1-7.

Sukee, T.; Beveridge, I.; Jabbar, A. 2021. Torquenema n. g., Wallabicols n. g., and Macropostrongyloides phascolomys n. sp.: New Genera and a New Species of Nematode (Strongylida: Phascolostrongylinae) Parasitic in Australian Macropodid and Vombatid Marsupials. Animals 2021, 11, 175. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/ani11010175

Yamaguti, S. 1961. 'Systema Helminthum. Vol. 111. The Nematodes of Vertebrates'. (Interscience Publishers: New York.)

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