NEW LOCALITY AND HOST RECORD FOR SOUTHWELLINA HISPIDA ( VAN CLEAVE , 1925 ) WITENBERG , 1932 ( ACANTHOCEPHALIA : POL YMORPHIDAE ) FROM CHILKA , ORISSA , AND A NEW HOST RECORD FOR SOUTHWELLINA SACRA N . SP . FROM ANDAMAN

The polymorphid worms in aquatic and fish-eating birds are reported mostly from Noth. The species of the genera under the family Polymorphidae viz. Polymorphus; Filicollis; Corynosoma; Arhythmorhnchus; southwell ina etc. have been reported mainly from USSR, USA, and Europe. Some juvenile forms in amphibians and adults in birds have been reported from Japan. Very little is known about the occurrence of the species of these genera in India.


INTRODUCTION
The polymorphid worms in aquatic and fish-eating birds are reported mostly from Noth.The species of the genera under the family Polymorphidae viz.Polymorphus; Filicollis; Corynosoma; Arhythmorhnchus; southwell ina etc. have been reported mainly from USSR, USA, and Europe.Some juvenile forms in amphibians and adults in birds have been reported from Japan.Very little is known about the occurrence of the species of these genera in India.
While dealing with the collections, the authors have come across some acanthocephalan parasites from Ichthiophagus birds of Chilka, Orissa and Port Blair, Andaman.The parasites have been identified as Southwellina hispida (Van Cleave, 1925) Witenberg, 1932 from Haliastur indus (Brahmini kite) and Nycticorax nycticorax (Night heron) at Chilka, and Southwellina sacra n.sp.from Egretta sacra (Reef heron) at Port Blair, Andaman.S. hispida has broad geographical distribution as opined by Van Cleave (1940) while reporting the species in heron from Galapagos Islands.
The description of Southwell ina hispida with its new locality and new host record as well as that of SOllthwellina sacra n.sp.with its new host record is the subject of this paper.Arhythmorhynchus tigrinus Moghe and Das, 1953 from India is considered as a synonym of S. hispida.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The specimens are killed in distilled water to allow the probosces to come out of the peoboscis sheaths.The specimens are then pressed and fixed in 70% alcohol.After fixation and staining in borax carmine, permanent whole mounts on slides are prepared.The specimens are drawn under camera lucida.All the measurements are in mm unless otherwise stated.

Bursa protruded.
Felnale : Body medium, spinose, anterior trunk broad with hypodermic nuclei, posterior trunk short narrow and devoid of spines, trunk spines anterior, minute, sparse, bare zone between the fields not found.Proboscis spindle shaped, swollen at the middle, 20-22 longitudinal rows with 16-17 rows in each row, 2-3 hooks per row at mid proboscis stout and broad.pH as in male.Neck wider than long, Proboscis sheath double walled, with ganglion at the centre.Lemnisci leaf-like.
Uterine bell long.Uterus slender, long.Genital pore sub-terminal.Eggs elliptical with prominent polar prolongations of the middle shell.
Other measurements given in the Table I. Discussion Schmidt (1973) observed weak and unstable distinguishing boundaries between the species and even more so between the genera of the family Polymorphidae.Therefore, he revised the family and suppressed two subfamilies viz.Polymorphinae and Corynosomatinae.He synonymised Filicollidae with Polymorphidae considering 8 genera under the family as valid.Schmidt (1973) resurrected and redefined the genus Southwellina Witenberg, 1932.He accommodated the species bearing anterior trunk spines in two fields in at least in one sex, posterior trunk shorter and four cement glands in the genus.Accordingly, he considered four polymorphid species as synonyms' of S. hispida and included three species in his key to species.S. hispida is the type species for the genus.
With almost all morphological characteristics of the specimens under report.correspond with that of S. hispida redescribed by Fukui (1929) and Scholz et at.(1992) from Japan and Czechoslovakia respectively.Further, the present specimens conform with S. hispida in respect of some dangnostic features such as gradual increase of size of proboscis hooks from tip toward middle of each row, hooks' size not more than 0.065 rom etc. as redefined by Schmidt (1973).The distribution of trunk spines in S. hispida does not agree with that of the present fonn.In this case, the trunk spines are so minute and sparse that two fields of spines cannot be ascertained.Therefore, this feature is considered as an intrspecific variation.Otherwise, it is definite that the specimens belong to the species S. hispida.Hence, the species is redescribed as Southwellina hispida (Van Cleave, 1925) Witenberg, 1932 with new locality and new host record in India.

Soutllwellina sacra n.sp.
(Plate 2; Figs.1-5) Three male and three female specimens are obtained from the intestine of Egretta sacra (Reef.heron) from Port Blair, the Andaman.The description is as under: Description : Male : Body small, spinose, anterior trunk broad, posterior short, narrow, without spines.Hypodennic nuclei at anterior trunk.Trunk spines in two fields at the broad anterior trunk, 1 st.field 0.166-0.l82wide, with 8-10 rows of spines, 2nd.Field 0.248-0.289wide with 8-12 rows of spines.Proboscis spindle shaped, mid-proboscis broad.Proboscis hooks in 14 longitudinal rows with 15 hooks in each row, 2-3 hooks per row at mid-proboscis stout and broad, hooks gradually increase in size from tip toward middle of row.pH -0.03-0.036X 0.004-0.01(Ant.), 0.036-0.042X 0.018 (Mid-proboscis), 0.036-0.052X 0.01-0.012(Post).Pro Root 0.02-0.024X 0.004 (Ant.), 0.036 X 0.008 (Mid-proboscis).Neck short, wider than long, proboscis sheath within broad anterior trunk, double walled, ganglion near centre.Lemnisci leaf like, unequal, Testes two, contiguous, within broad anterior trunk but below the posterior field of trunk spines.Cement gland four, long, tubular, bursa not protruded.Female: Body small, spinose, anterior trunk broad, posterior short, narrow, without spines.Hypodermic nuclei at anterior trunk.Trunk spines in two fields at the broad anterior trunk, 1 st.field 0.166-0.199wide with 8-12 rows of spines, 2 nd field 0.496-0.512wide with 8-12 rows of spines.Proboscis spindle shaped, mid-probossic braod, proboscis hooks in 14 longitudinal rows with 15 hooks in each row, 2-3 hooks per row at mid-proboscis stout and broad, hooks gradually increase in size from tip toward middle of row, hook size as in male.Neck wider than long.Proboscis sheath within broad anterior trunk.Lemnisci leaf-like.Body cavity full of eggs with a few ovarian follicles.Eggs elliptical, prominent polar prolongations of the middle shell present.Genital pore sub-terminal.1932} Schmidt, 1973 comb.n. from U.S. and S. hispida, circumboreal.Moghe and Das (1953) described Arhythmorhynchus tigrinus, a juvenile form in Rana tigrina from India which was considered as valid by Yamaguti (1963) but Schmidt (1973) left it out without comments.Moghe and Das, 1953 has been considered as a synonym of s. hispida as discussed below :

Arhythmorhynchus tigrinus
The present specimens under study have been compared with all the three existing species under the genus Southwellina.The present form basically differs from S. dimorpha, S. macracantha, and S. hispida in having lowest number of longitudinal rows of proboscis hooks and number of hooks in each row.Secondly, it differs from these species in having shorter length of proboscis hooks and roots.Finally it differs in having less number of rows of trunk spines in both the fields.
Table 2 shows the comparison between the Indian species.
The specimens under study have also been compared with its nearest species of the genera viz, Hexaglandula, Arthythmorhynchus and Corynosma under the family Polymorphidae and have been found that the species is independent of all its nearest allies.
Hence, the authors consider the species as new to science and designate it Southwellina sacra n. sp.The new species forms a new record for its locality and host.•Measurement in mm unless otherwise stated.

Table 1 .
Comparative chart of measurement of S. hispida* *Measurement in mm unless otherwise stated.

Table 2 .
Comparative chart of measurement of Indian species•.