A new acuariid nematode, Syncuaria mackoi n. sp. (Spirurida), from Ciconia nigra (L.) (Ciconiiformes: Ciconiidae) in Europe.

Syncuaria mackoi n. sp. is described, based on light and scanning electron microscopy, from the stomach of the black stork Ciconia nigra in Bulgaria. The new species is characterised by: body length 7.18-8.30 mm (males) and 10.13-11.40 mm (females); cordons anastomosing about the level of the middle of the muscular oesophagus and consisting of delicate cuticular plates; bifurcate deirids 7-9 mum long; lateral longitudinal cuticular band-like swellings; nine pairs of pedunculate caudal papillae, i.e. four precloacal and five postcloacal, the latter forming two groups (2 + 3); sixth pair of postcloacal papillae sessile; left spicule 854-907 mum long; right spicule 138-154 mum in length, with a curved distal end resembling a horn and a short lateral projection at some distance from its tip; and vagina vera provided with an anteriorly-directed blind appendix. The specimens identified as S. ciconiae (Gil'bert, 1927) by Macko (1964) from C. nigra in Slovakia are considered as belonging to S. mackoi. A pair of small cupolae situated dorsally and ventrally between bases of cordons of the new species is described for the first time in this genus; they are recognised as homologous to the pair of spines in the same position previously described in S. diacantha Petter, 1961 and S. plegadisi Digiani, 1999.