Aonchotheca forresteri
| Aonchotheca forresteri | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Nematoda |
| Class: | Adenophorea |
| Order: | Trichurida |
| Family: | Trichuridae |
| Genus: | Aonchotheca |
| Species: | A. forresteri |
| Binomial name | |
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Aonchotheca forresteri (Kinsella and Pence, 1987) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Aonchotheca forresteri is a parasitic nematode that infects the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida. Occurring mainly in adults, it inhabits the stomach. It is much more common during the wet season, perhaps because its unknown intermediate host is an earthworm that only emerges when it rains. The worm was discovered in 1970 and formally described in 1987. Originally classified in the genus Capillaria, it was reclassified in Aonchotheca in 1999. A. forresteri is small and narrow-bodied, with a length of 13.8 to 19.4 mm in females and 6.8 to 9.2 mm in males. Similar species such as A. putorii differ in features of the alae and spicule (organs in the male), the size of the female, and the texture of the eggs.
Aonchotheca forresteri was discovered during a survey of the endoparasites of Florida marsh rice rats (Oryzomys palustris) by John Kinsella from 1970 to 1972, and is one of several new parasite species in this study, which was done because there were no previous comprehensive studies of the endoparasites of the species. Together with Danny Pence, Kinsella described the worm in a 1987 paper as Capillaria forresteri; the specific name honors Donald J. Forrester of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida. Kinsella and Pence described it as one of many species of Capillaria, a large and taxonomically difficult genus. They suggested that it may be closest to some other small species that live in the digestive systems of mammals, such as the very similar C. putorii, which is found in a variety of carnivorans in North America and Europe. In 1982, Moravec had placed Capillaria putorii and a number of related species in a separate genus, Aonchotheca, and in 1999 Pisanu and Bain transferred Capillaria forresteri and various other species to that genus from Capillaria. Thus, the species is now known as Aonchotheca forresteri.
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