A new nematode, Cruzia tropidodipsi, parasitic in the snake Tropidodipsas fasciata.

A single specimen of the snake Tropidodipsas fasciata collected in Oaxaca, Mexico, 38 miles west of Tehuantepec, harbored large numbers of nemas belonging to the genus Cruzia. The nemas were prepared for study according to the method of Cable (1963:136) with the exception that glycerine was used in place /of glycerine gel. Specimens were examined with both phase contrast and conventional microscopes. All measurements are from glycerine mounts of specimens and are in millimeters. Travassos (1917) erected the family Cruziidae and the genus Cruzia with Ascaris tentaculata Rudolphi, 1819 as the type. Khalil (1927), Maplestone (1930), Khalil and Vogelsang (1930, 1932), Harwood (1932), Sprehn (1932), Pearse (1936), Ruiz (1947) and Wolfgang (1951) have raised the number of species in this genus to twelve. Four species have been reported from reptiles. Khalil (1926) reported C. mexicana in a lizard from Mexico and Khalil and Vogelsang (1930) reported C. fulleborni in Tupinambis teguixin from Paraguay. Harwood (1932) described C. testudinis in Terrapene carolina triunguis from Texas and Ruiz (1947) described C. rudolphii in the snake Erythrolampus aesculapii from Brazil. Schurmans-Steckhoven (1950) erected a new genus Schizobucca with C. fulleborni Khalil and Vogelsang 1930, as the type.