Litomosoides sp.

Litomosoides sp.

Infection site: Mesentery and thoracic cavity

Localities: Calcehtok and Homún

Prevalence (%) and mean intensity: Calcehtok: 4.8 and 1 (1). Homún: 0.8 and 1 (1)

Specimens deposited: CNHE-12324 and NHM 2025.8.13.16

GenBank accession numbers: PX227567, PX227568 (COI)

Comments: Based on one male and four females (one complete and three incomplete). Anterior extremity rounded, dome-like ( Figures 9A, B View FIGURE 9 ). Mouth oval. Large amphids, cephalic papillae not observed ( Figure 10A, B View FIGURE 10 ). Buccal capsule slender; anterior segment transparent and posterior portion chitinous with slight thickenings; buccal cavity longer than wide ( Figure 9A, B View FIGURE 9 ). Cuticle with lateral thickening on the anterior extremity and punctuations on the posterior extremity of the body in both sexes, most marked in females ( Figure 10C‒F View FIGURE 10 ). Esophagus not differentiated in muscular and glandular portions ( Figure 9C View FIGURE 9 ). Male tail with three small pairs of papillae: two adcloacal and one postcloacal ( Figures 10E View FIGURE 10 ). Area rugosa begins anterior to cloaca, composed of transverse ridges of small longitudinal crests ( Figure 9D View FIGURE 9 ). Vulva close to the distal part of the esophagus ( Figure 9C View FIGURE 9 ). Female tail with a terminal process ( Figures 9E View FIGURE 9 , 10F View FIGURE 10 ). Male body length 5850 and 100 wide. Buccal capsule 6 long and 5 wide. Male tail 50 long. Left spicule 224 long, right spicule 50 long. Female body length 9190 and 100‒125 wide. Buccal capsule 8‒12 long and 5‒7 wide. Esophagus 208‒385 long. Vulva situated 355‒390 from apex. Tail 90 long.

Seventeen species of Litomosoides have been reported as parasites of bats ( Oviedo et al. 2016). Females isolated from N. laticaudatus closely resemble Litomosoides saltensis Oviedo & Notarnicola by the body size (< 20 mm), presence of lateral cuticular punctuations, and the position of the vulva. However, the examined specimens have smaller buccal capsule, tail, and esophagus, and lack salient phasmids on the tail. On the other hand, the male found in N. laticaudatus has punctuations on the posterior extremity and a body length (< 9.7 mm) similar to Litomosoides molossi Esslinger and Litomosoides chandleri Esslinger. However , these species exhibit different cephalic (e.g., dorsal-caudal papillae, buccal capsule thick) and caudal (e.g., number of caudal papillae, tail length, and spicular ratio) characteristics than those observed in our specimen. These differences suggest that the specimens from Yucatán may represent a species not described yet.

In Mexico, five species of Litomosoides have been reported, Litomosoides brasiliensis Almeida , Litomosoides chitwoodi Bain , Guerrero, Rodríguez & Babayan, L. guiterasi , Litomosoides hamletti Sandground , Litomosoides leonilavazquezae Caballero in bats of Mormoopidae (e.g., M. megalophylla ) and Phyllostomidae ( M. waterhousii ) (see the complete references in Caspeta-Mandujano et al. 2017). In N. laticaudatus, Martínez-Pérez (2021) reported an unidentified species of Litomosoides in the mesentery of N. laticaudatus from Uxmal, Yucatán.