Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 26. (Budapest, 1993)

The late Dr Béla Edelényi (Zoological Department, University of Agricultural Sciences, Debrecen) made an extensive collection of avian parasites to the east of the River Tisza, mainly from the Hortobágy National Park, Biharugra and Szarvas (see Murai and Palotás 1989). After his death, this material was transferred to the Helminthological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. The present paper reports the results of the examination of cestode specimens from common swifts collected by Dr Béla Edelényi. MATERIALS AND METHODS This investigation is based on specimens collected from the small intestines of three common swifts, Apus apus, captured in the forest in the flood-plain of the River Körös, near Szarvas, in the Great Hungarian Plain, on 6th October 1971 (migratory birds). The cestodes were fixed and stored in 70% ethanol, stained in alcoholic borax-carmine, dehydrated in an alcohol series, cleared in clove oil and mounted in Canada balsam. The slides arc deposited in Helminthological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest (HNHM) and the Institute of Parasitology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (IPBAS). As comparative material, the type-specimens of Pseudangularia thompsoni Burt, 1938 (No. 1983.4.25.8-9) and P. triplacantha Burt, 1938 (No. 1983.4.25.10) from the Helminth Collection of The Natural History Museum, London, were examined. The drawings were made with the aid of a drawing tube. The measurements of internal organs were based on well-developed mature proglottides. Metrical and meristic characteristics are given as range with the mean (av.) and the number of measurements or counts taken (n) in parentheses. The dimensions are in micrometers except where otherwise stated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Family Dilepididae Fuhrmann, 1907 Genus Pseudangularia Burt, 1938 Pseudangularia europaea sp.n. Specimens studied: 5 complete specimens and 1 specimen without scolex as whole mounts; 1 of the scoleces in Berlese's fluid. Holotype HNHM No. E4282 (2 slides); paratypes: HNHM No. E4282 (4 slides); IPBAS No. 1983.05.28.1 (1 slide). Description: Medium sized cestodes. Most developed specimens with length 22.5 - 25 mm (av. 23.5 mm, n = 3), consisting of 81 - 83 (av. 82, n = 3) proglottides: 37 - 45 (av. 42) premature, 15-18 (av. 17) mature 'male', 16-20 (av. 18) mature 'hermaphroditic' and 2-6 (av. 4) pregravid. Gravid proglottides not available.