TWO NEW NEMATODES PARASITIC IN THE KIWI IN NEW ZEALAND By EILEEN A. HARRIS CONTENTS Page SYNOPSIS ........... 199 INTRODUCTION ........... 199 DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES . . . . . . . . . 199 Heterakis gracilicauda ......... 199 Cyrnea (Cyrnea) apterycis . . . . . . . .201 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......... 205 REFERENCES ........... 205 SYNOPSIS Two new species of nematodes, Heterakis gracilicauda sp. nov. and Cyrnea (Cyrnea) apterycis sp. nov., are described from the kiwi (Apteryx sp.) in New Zealand. INTRODUCTION THROUGH the kindness of Mr D. M. Rutherford of the Whangarei Animal Health Laboratory, Whangarei, South Island, New Zealand, a small collection of nematodes obtained from a kiwi (Apteryx sp.) was received for study. So far as the writer is aware, the only record of nematodes occurring in Apteryx appears to be that of Chatin (1884, 1885), who gave a very brief and inadequate description of a form that he called Ascaris apterycis. This species does not seem to have been met with again, and it is therefore not surprising that the present material has proved to be very interesting, consisting as it does of two new species which are described below. DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES Family HETERAKIDAE Railliet & Henry, 1914 Heterakis gracilicauda sp. nov. (Figs i & 2) DESCRIPTION. This description is based upon specimens from the caecum of Apteryx sp. in South Island, New Zealand. The male measures 3-3-4-4 mm in length and 0-17-0-33 mm in maximum thickness and the female 5-6-4 mm and 0-19-0-3 mm, respectively. The head bears the usual three lips without interlabia, and no teeth have been made out (Fig. i). The diameter of the head taken just at the base of the lips is approxi-mately 42-49 /Am. There is a short pharynx measuring 30 /xm in length, and this leads into an oesophagus terminating inwardly in a distinct bulb, which measures Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.) 28, 5 Issued 17 September, 1975
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