Taxonomic revision of Joyeuxilepis Spassky, 1947 (Cestoda: Amabiliidae): redescriptions of J. acanthorhyncha (Wedl, 1855) and J. fuhrmanni (Solomon, 1932), a key and a new generic diagnosis.

Two species of Joyeuxilepis Spassky, 1947 with 14 rostellar hooks are redescribed: J. acanthorhyncha (Wedl, 1855) on the basis of specimens from Tachybaptus ruficollis in Bulgaria and J. fuhrmanni (Solomon, 1932) on the basis of the holotype from 'coot' (= ? Podicipedidae) in Kenya. The critical analysis of the previous records of J. acanthorhyncha reveals that the host-range of this species includes T. ruficollis, Podiceps nigricollis and P. grisegena. The reliable diagnostic characters of Joyeuxilepis are re-evaluated. J. biuncinata (Joyeux & Baer, 1943), J. acanthorhyncha, J. decacantha (Fuhrmann, 1913), J. pilatus Borgarenko & Gulyaev, 1991, J. fuhrmanni, J. uralensis Gulyaev, 1989, J. decacanthoides Borgarenko & Gulyaev, 1991, J. octacantha (Rees, 1973), J. azerbaijanica (Matevosyan & Sailov, 1963) and J. fimbriata (Borgarenko, Spasskaya & Spassky, 1972) are recognised as valid species of Joyeuxilepis. A new generic diagnosis for this genus and an identification key to its constituent species are presented.