Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2009
Ophidascaris filaria sensu lato previously redefined in the wide sense is now subdivided into four species as follows: (1) O. filaria sensu stricto in Python molurus in India; (2) O. infundibulicola (Linstow, 1903 with emended definition) in P. reticulatus in Singapore, Malaya and Thailand; (3) O. baylisi Robinson, 1934, emend. in P. reticulatus in Malaya, Singapore and Thailand; (4) O. moreliae (new species) in Morelia spilotes variegatus and Aspidites melanocephalus in Australia. The four species are differentiated particularly by their colour, the pattern of the folds of the intestine, the relative length of the spicules and vagina, the eggs, and the extent of development of the larvae in mice.
The writer gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of Professor A. G. Chabaud and his colleagues at the Museum National d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, in giving helpful suggestions and criticism and also for making Dujardin's specimens and drawings available. Thanks are also due to the following: Dr G. Hartwich, Zoological Museum of the Humboldt University of Berlin, for sending syntypes of Ascaris rubicunda; to Dr V. Zaman, Singapore, Dr Fred Dunn, Kuala Lumpur, Dr A. R. Omar, Ipoh, Dr Pradon Chatikavanij and Dr Suvajra Vajrasthira of Bangkok, Dr A. S. Dissanaike, Colombo, and Dr G. A. Schad, Calcutta, for help in obtaining specimens. Facilities to carry out this work were provided by the south-east Asian Ministers of Education Council at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, through the Dean, Professor Chamlong Harinasuta, Bangkok. Acknowledgement is also made to the able technical assistance of Miss Marian Hollis. Financial assistance for this study was provided under grants from the Australian Research Grants Committee and the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare no. A 107023–02.