Specific Identity of Kalicephalus Molin, 1861 (Nematoda: Diaphanocephalidae) Specimens Collected from the Albino Japanese Ratsnake, Elaphe climacophora (Boie, 1826) (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Abstract

Nine male and eight female adult nematodes in the genus Kalicephalus reported from albino Japanese ratsnakes, Elaphe climacophora from Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, were re-examined to confirm their taxonomic placement. Previously, these nematodes were identified as K. natricis Yamaguti, 1935, despite the fact that the name had been regarded by some earlier authors as a species inquirenda. Our close re-examination of the morphological characters of both sexes suggests that those worms actually belong to K. sinensis Hsü, 1934, which has been recorded from several Japanese snakes, including E. climacophora.