Molineus cati n. sp (Nematoda, Trichostrongylina, Molineoidea), a parasiteof feral cats, Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758 in South Africa

A new species of the genus Molineus Cameron, 1923 was recovered from fetal cats, Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758, in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Bec ause of a caudal bursa with rays of the 2-1-2 type, but with the extremitie s of rays 4 nearer those of rays 3 than those of rays 5, the new species is closely related to seven Neotropical Molineus spp., four parasitic in Prim ates, two parasitic in Mustelidae and one a parasite of Procyonidae. Amongs t these species, only Molineus barbaris Cameron, 1936, a parasite of Tayra barbara (Mustelidae) from Trinidad and Molineus vexillarius (Dunn, 1961), a parasite of Tamarinus nigricollis (Primates) from Peru have rays 4 longer than two-thirds the length of rays 3, like the new species. However, the ne w species is differentiated from the other two in that rays 9 arise at the level of the bifurcation of the dorsal ray and not after the division as is the case with M. barbaris and M. vexillarius.