and, which is which? A reappraisal of the gastrointestinal(Nematoda: Capillariidae) species common in wood mice and bank voles.

Abstract

Wood mice () and bank voles () are often employed as natural study models in infectious disease ecology. Yet the identities of some elements of their parasite fauna have been subject to long-standing confusion. One instance of this relates to 2 nominal species of the capillariid nematode genus:(Dujardin, 1845) and(Diesing, 1851). Through literature review, analysis of recorded host- and site-specificity and tracing of taxonomic precedence, it is possible to confirm thatis a valid species with a spicule c. 1000 microns long, a small intestinal site of infection and a wide host range centred in murine rodents (withthe most common host). On the other hand, tracing the provenance ofthrough to the works of the early naturalists reveals it is best assigned as a(lacking sufficient establishing description) or a junior synonym ofand does not have precedence for the othermorphotype commonly found in Eurasian rodents. The first description consonant with this other morphotype, which has a short spicule (200–250 microns in length) and occurs primarily in the stomach of bank voles and other cricetids, was asby Kalantarian in 1924. We thus recommend the suppression ofin favour of(Kalantarian, 1924) for this gastric-specialist short-spicule morphotype, particularly as the use of thename and its variants has previously been associated with substantial inconsistency and misidentification with.