Family Sambonidae Heymons, 1935

Elenia australis Heymons, 1932

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Family Sambonidae Heymons, 1935

Samboninae Heymons, 1941.

Introduction

Sambonids are parasites in monitor lizards and snakes. Heymons' (1941) review is now outdated. The spelling of the family name Samboniidae, based on the type genus Sambonia, seems never to have been adopted. Spratt (2011) lists numerous records of unidentified specimens of Waddycephalus from species such as Northern Quoll, several snakes, geckos, and the Sooty Owl, and unidentified specimens of Parasambonia from hosts such as snakes, domestic cat, and red fox.

Diagnosis

Body in adults long and slender or short and massive (banana-shaped); cylindrical, often somewhat dilated posteriorly. Annuli in adults not thickened. Rostrum in adults absent. Mouth in adults behind anterior hooks. Podial lobes in adults absent. Proximal podomere of appendages 3 and 4 modified as fulcrum, campanule-shaped in larvae and boat-shaped in adults; fulcrum in adults proportional to length of hooks or at least double length of hooks. Primary hooks in adults not reduced or reduced, trapezoidal or aligned; accessory hooks present and dorsal from larvae to nymph, absent or present in adults; hooks without spines. Cirrus sac in adults present, long. Terminal papillae in adults absent. Ejaculatory bulbs in adults elongate. Testes single. Nervous system in adults all ganglia fused into single suboesophagic nerve mass. Uterus in adults tubular. Female gonopore in adults ventral, posterior, between the 15th and 16th annuli anterior to the anus (heterogyne condition). Thorax in larvae short, not segmented. Medium spine of penetrating apparatus in primary larvae simple. Lateral spines of penetrating apparatus in primary larvae bifid. Spines of annuli in nymph present. Spiny eggshells in adults present. (derived from Almeida & Christoffersen 1999)

Body of female either cylindrical or slightly dilated, club-shaped and flattened ventrally over its anterior half. Lateral lines and abdominal rings as in Sebekidae but fewer (40–76). Hooks simple, trapezoidal or arranged on a curved line. Fulcrum large, oval or heart-shaped. Anus opening between 2 small terminal swellings. Vulva separated from anus by several complete rings (heterogyne type). Eggs with spinose inner shell. (translated from Fain 1961)