Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 13. (Budapest, 1980)
They comprise the hosts of older paleontological appearance (Sciuromorpha: Sciuridae, Heteromyidae, Geomyidae) and are much more expanded geographically (Europe, Africa, Asia, North-America, South-America). It is reasonable to presuppose the existence of archaic Catenotaeniids parasitizing Sciuromorph rodents in the Nearctic Region already in the Oligocène (QUENTIN, 1971). They probably expanded afterwards throughout the Holarctic Region in the Miocene, parallel to the marked diversification of these rodents (see THENIUS, 1972). The remainder of these most primitive forms of cestodes are still parasitizing rodents of the Sciuromorph group both in the Palaearctic and the Nearctic Regions. These are, e. g. , Catenotaenia dendritica , known from rodents of the genus Sciurus (Sciuridae: Sciurini), C. reggiae from the genus Marmota (Sciuridae: Marmotini), or C. linsdalei from Nearctic endemic Geomyoidea (Geomyidae, Heteromyidae). These primitive forms are characterized by a large number of primary branches of uterus and a large number of testes being partially or completely divided into two groups. An impetuous development of cestodes of the suborder Catenotaeniata should have taken place in the Last Tertiary. At this time, they contact and adapt to new rodent hosts, the Myomorpha. Thus, in addition to Sciuromorphic rodents, also Myomorphic ones, particularly of the families Cricetidae, Muridae, Microtidae and Gerbillidae, became infested by these parasites. Consequently, they probably began a gradual differentiation, in the general way of anatomical simplification (less number of testes and uterine main lateral branches), throughout various zoogeographical Regions. They started to penetrate, together with their hosts, from the Palaearctic to the Ethiopian Region. Not later than in the Miocene (see TENORA, 1977), the C atenotaenia species (typical for Sciuromorph rodents) started with a new line, the genus Hemicatenotaenia, in other Sciuromorphic rodents belonging to the Afro-Asiatic Sciuridae of the tribe Xerini in Africa. Xerini appeared in the Oligocène in Europe and in the Miocene in North Africa (THENIUS, 1979). The most ancient species of this line is H. geosciuri (large number of uterine branches, tendency to divide the testes distribution into two groups, ovary not overlapping the level of genital pore anteriorly). Undoubtedly in the Tertiary, probably as late as in the Pliocene, the genus Pseudo catenotaenia was also formed. At present time, cestodes of this line parasitize only Muridae rodents of the genus Apodemus (A. sylvaticus, A. flavicollis) in the Eumediterranean region. The paleontological findings indicate that A. sylvaticus appeared in Central Europe in the Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene, perhaps deriving from other Pleistocenic forms of Apodemus (NIETHAMMER, 1978). The differentiation between A. sylvaticus and A. flavicollis has taken place only recently (Middle Pleistocene). The ancestors of Pseudocatenotaenia should be traced among the cestodes of the subfamily Catenotaeniinae parasitizing Myomorphic rodents (Muridae) in Asia, expanding posteriorly with Apodemus along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. These living forms are very interesting in the sense that their outer morphology resembles the Skrjabinotaenia forms (e. g. S . lobata ), whereas in the internal anatomy (number and distribution of testes) they are closely related with the Cateno taenia species (e. g. C. pusilla) . In comparison with the data from the Palaearctic and Ethiopian Regions, the evolution of the subfamily Catenotaeniinae on the American continent was different. In the Nearctic Region, the Catenotaenia form remained stabilized tiU today without showing further changes. Only a few species of the genus Catenotaenia from this region have been reported. Three species, C. pusilla (a species with almost cosmopolitan distribution and apparently absent in Africa, the main host of which is Mus musculus) C. dentritica and Catenotaenia sp. (see RAUSCH and SCHILLER, 1948; DAVIDSON, 1976) were found in rodents of the genus Sciurus. The specific species C. reggiae was recorded in rodents of the genus Marmota . Geomyoidea mammals of the families Geomyidae and Heteromyidae are parasitized by C. linsdalei, Cricetidae by C. peromysci and Microtidae by C. laguri . The last three species are sometimes wrongly regarded as synonyms of C. dendritica (see e.g. SCHAD, 1954; SMITH, 1954; WOLFGANG, 1956; HOCKLEY, 1961; TENORA, 1964). On the other hand, some forms from NorthAmerican rodents and described as Catenotaenia species do not belong to this genus; C. cali- fornica Powell, 1953 and C. utahensis Bienek et Grundmann, 1974. TENORA (1977) assumes that these last two species belong probably to the genus Mathevotaenia Akhumyan, 1946 (syn. Oochorictica Lühe, 1898 pro parte).
