Rauschiella linguatula Travassos 1924

Rauschiella linguatula (Rudolphi, 1819) Travassos, 1924

Hosts (prevalence; range): B. raniceps (1/79; 1) and L. chaquensis (2/143; 2–3).

Site of infection: small intestine.

Stage: adult.

Type host and type locality: L. latrans (= L. ocellatus), Brazil.

Comments: Rauschiella linguatula was described as Distoma linguatula by Rudolphi (1819). However the description was very superficial and Travassos (1924) improved details in a second description as Glypthelmins linguatula. After, Razo-Mendivil et al. (2006) integrating molecular data and scanning electron micrographs recombined some species of Glypthelmins as Rauschiella, including R. linguatula, by a set of characters such as small spines in the tegument, dextral ovary, cirrus sac with coiled seminal vesicle, Y-shaped excretory vesicle and vitelline follicles predominantly extracaecal. The small spines in tegument were not verify in our specimens because we did not undertake scanning electron micrographs; however, we observed the following features of R. linguatula: wide pharynx, small acetabulum, uterus intercaecal with one or two loops on the caeca and other loops passing between testes, posterior region filled with uterine loops which reach the end of the body after the end of caeca, and a notable subterminal excretory pore with radial ornamentation (Travassos 1924). Rauschiella linguatula is widely distributed in anurans from South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela) (see Kohn & Fernandes 2014), however, this is the first report in B. raniceps.