Subfamily Linstowiinae Fuhrmann, 1907

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Introduction

The sub-family Linstowiinae is characterised by a uterus that disintegrates during its development to form capsules around individual eggs. A pyriform apparatus is absent and the intermediate hosts are coleopterans (Beveridge 1994). The group was recognised as a family by Spasskii (1951). It occurs widely in insectivorous mammals and reptiles. The taxonomy at the generic level is controversial, the most recent revision being that of Beveridge (1994) which is followed here.

The Australian linstowiine fauna is limited, but of considerable biological interest. The genera Linstowia Zschokke, 1899 and Echidnotaenia Beveidge, 1980 are endemic, occurring primarily in the echidna, and with one species known from bandicoots. Paralinstowia Baer, 1927, is represented in Australia by a single species in bandicoots, the other species of the genus occurring in South American didelphid marsupials (Beveridge & Spratt 1996). The remaining genera, Mathevotaenia Akhumian, 1946 and Oochoristica Lühe, 1898, are cosmopolitan.

General References

Beveridge, I. 1994. Family Anoplocephalidae Cholodkovsky, 1902. pp. 315-366 in Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. (eds). Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates. Wallingford, UK : Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux International 751 pp.

Beveridge, I. & Spratt, D.M. 1996. The helminth fauna of Australasian marsupials: origins and evolutionary biology. Advances in Parasitology 37: 135-254

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