Aonchotheca musimon n sp (Nematoda : Capillariinae) from the mouflon Ovis musimon in the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen archipelago, with comments on the relationships with A-bilobata (Bhalerao, 1933) Moravec, 1982 and other species of the genus

An intestinal capillariid nematode, Aonchotheca musimon n. sp., is describe d from Ovis musimon imported into the Kerguelen archipelago (Terres Austral es et Antarctiques Francaises). The comparison of this new material with ot her Aonchotheca spp. is based on the usual characters, i.e. spicule, caudal bursa, number of papillae, stichosome, bacillary bands, shape of the cirru s, and on the length of the ejaculatory duct which appears to be of some ph ylogenetic value. A. musimon, of which the spicule is 208-230 mu m long, is close to A. bilobata, another parasite of bovids, which is redescribed her e. It is distinct from this species because the posterior region of the fem ale worm is cylindrical instead of conical, the lateral alae of the male wo rm are longer, quadrangular and instead of triangular and smooth, the cauda l bursa has a folded dorso-lateral edge, there is a recurrent ventral fold of the cirrus, the slender distal part of the spicule is longer, the oesoph agus is shorter in both sexes the slightly larger eggs have a thicker shell . These two species from bovids and A. murissylvatici from murid rodents, o f which the main characters are similar, represent a small group with a ver y elongate ejaculatory duct (1.9-2.5 mm). This is in contrast to a larger g roup of species with a short ejaculatory duct (350-600 mu m), which are par asites of Chiroptera (A. brosseti, A. chabaudi, A. landauae, A. gabonensis) , Insectivora (A. erinacei), mustelid Carnivora (A. putorii, A. mustelorum) and glirid rodents (A. myoxinitelae, A. legerae). A. bovis and A. dessetae , respectively parasites of bovids and lagomorphs, present an ejaculatory d uct of intermediary length and do not belong to these groups. Several species are tranferred to the genus Aonchotheca: A. kashmirensis (R aina & Kaul, 1982) n. comb., A. legerae (Justine, Ferte & Bain, 1987) n. co mb., A. forresteri (Kinsella & Pence, 1987) n. comb., A. chabaudi (Justine, 1989) n. comb.,A. landauae (Justine, 1989) n. comb., A. brosseti (Justine, 1989) n. comb., A. gabonensis (Justine, 1989) n. comb, and A. dessetae (Ju stine, 1990) n. comb.