Gastric Nematodes, Including a New Species of Abbreviata (Nematoda: Physalopteridae) from the Mangrove Monitor Varanus Indicus (Reptilia :Varanidae)

Three species of nematode, Tanqua tiara (von Linstow, 1879), Heliconema longissima (Ortlepp, 1922), and Abbreviated melanesiensis sp.nov., were recovered from the gastrointestinal tracts of 124 Varanus indicus (Daudin, 1802). Tanqua Tiara occurred in two-thirds of the lizards, at a mean prevalence of 7.2 worms per infected host. It is suggested that the low intensity and geographically variable prevalence of this nematode may relate to the distribution of the invertebrate intermediate host in the discrete and discontinuous insular habitat of the lizard. Abbreviated melanesiensis sp. nov. was recovered from two lizards, and is distinguished from other species in this genus principally by the enlarged tip of the right Copulatory spicule, the thick sheath which envelops the retracted left spicule, the relatively Conspicuous phasmids in females, and the elongated, thin-walled eggs. A single male Heliconema longissima was recorded.