Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 13. (Budapest, 1980)
The penetration of the Catenotaeniinae in the Neotropical Region occurred only recently. There is only one species known, Quentinotaenia mesovitellinica , parasitic in Caviomorph rodents of the family Caviidae. This monotypical genus, derived from the Nearctic Catenotaenia forms, became established in South America probably in the Early Quaternary, due to the fact that South America was isolated during the whole Tertiary and a contact with the North-American fauna took place only in the Plio-Pleistocene. As pointed out already by QUENTIN (1971), Q. mesovitellinica originated probably through a capture phenomenon from Sciuridae to Caviidae, Sciurids being introduced in South America only in the Quaternary (THENIUS, 1972). The subfamily Skrjabinotaeniinae is of more recent appearance. Its origin shall be find undoubtedly in the Asiatic Palaearctic Region, probably in Myomorphic rodents of the Muroidea group from the Near East. The host and geographical pictures of the Skrjabinotaeniinae cestodes suggest that they arise in the Late Tertiary (Miocene), in connection with the migration of rodents of the families Muridae and Gerbillidae to Africa. QUENTIN (1971) supposes the origin of cestodes of the genus Skrjabinotaenia from archaic Catenotaenia forms with large number of testes and small number of uterine branches. The actual remainder of such forms is Catenotaenia rhombomydis , a species parasitic in Gerbillidae from the Caspian coast (now known from the distribution area of Rhombomys opimus in the USSR). This Catenotaenia species is morphologically similar to Skrjabinotaenia psammomi parasitic in Gerbillidae of the genus Psammomys in Egypt. Two main evolutionary lines in Skrjabinotaeniinae can be detected. One line (genus Skrjabinotaenia ) includes the historically oldest forms, all of which show the tendency to mantain the last gravid segment of strobila always longer than wide and never presenting posterior longitudinal scission. In this group it is possible to observe a gradual shortening in the length of strobila and a decrease in the number of segments through the different species. As already noted by QUENTIN (1971), S. lobata, the longer and only species distributed simultaneously in Europe and Africa, represents the most primitive living exponent. All other species of the genus are exclusively African. The host spectrum of S. lobata allows to explain perfectly the evolution of the genus in question. This species prefers to parasitize Apodemus in Europe, only rarely infesting other rodents (Muridae, Microtidae), whereas in the Ethiopian Region (in the Palaearctic Africa, southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, there is Apodemus) it appears almost exclusively in different Muridae and has been cited only sporadically in Gerbillidae. All these facts lead us to conclude that the European actual expansion of S . lobata has been reached with Apodemus coming from the Near East. An African origin of S. lobata and its posterior expansion in Europe through Gibraltar strait cannot be accepted. Pleistocenic findings of A. sylvaticus in the Atlas Mts. (North African place where A. sylvaticus shows the parasitation by S. lobata (MAS-COMA, FELIU and REY, unpublished data) indicate the relationship between the presence of this Murid in North Africa and its existence in the Near East (NIETHAMMER, 1978). As already pointed out by THALER (1973), one shall presuppose that the actual A. sylvaticus of North Africa is the result from a very recent penetration from Asia. Fig, 28: Dispersal and differentiation of cestodes Catenotaeniata = Catenotaeniinae; = Skrjabinotaeniinae; O = Oligocenic center of dispersion; N = Late Neogenic center of differentiation; Q = Quaternary starting point of migration. - Catenotaenia: 1 = Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae; 2, 3, 4 = Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae, Heteromyidae, Geomyidae; 5 = Myomorpha: Cricetidae, Microtidae; 6 - Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae; 7 = Sciuromorpha; Myomorpha; 8 = Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae; Myomorpha: Muridae, Microtidae, Cricetidae. - Quentinotaenia: 5 = Cavimorpha: Caviidae. - Hemicatenotaenia: 9 = Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae: Xerini. - Pseudocatenotaenia: 10 = Mygmorpha: Muridae: Apodemus. - Skrjabinotaenia: 11 = S. lobata only: Muridae: Apodemus; Microtidae; 12 = Muroidea: Muridae, Dendromuridae, Gerbillidae, Cricetidae; 13 = S. madagascariensis: Cricetidae: Nesomyinae: Brachyuromys. - Meggittina: 14 - Gerbillidae, Muridae, Cricetidae; 15 = M. baeri: Cricetidae: Nesomyinae: Brachyuromys.
