MULTISENTIS-MYRMECOBIUS, GEN ET SP-NOV (ACANTHOCEPHALA, OLIGACANTHORHYNCHIDAE), FROM THE NUMBAT, MYRMECOBIUS-FASCIATUS, AND A KEY TO GENERAOF THE OLIGACANTHORHYNCHIDAE
Lr. Smales, MULTISENTIS-MYRMECOBIUS, GEN ET SP-NOV (ACANTHOCEPHALA, OLIGACANTHORHYNCHIDAE), FROM THE NUMBAT, MYRMECOBIUS-FASCIATUS, AND A KEY TO GENERAOF THE OLIGACANTHORHYNCHIDAE, Invertebrate taxonomy, 11(2), 1997, pp. 301-307
A new genus and a new species of acanthocephalan are described from th
e numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus, a termite-eating marsupial from south-
western Australia. Multisentis myrmecobius belongs to the family Oliga
canthorhynchidae and a key to the genera of this family is given. The
life cycle is presumed to involve termites as the intermediate host. T
he definitive host-parasite relationship is assumed to have evolved si
nce the origins of M. fasciatus from ancestral marsupial forms before
the late Miocene.