Pseudoacanthocephalus lutzi (Hamann, 1891) comb. n. (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae) for Acanthocephalus lutzi (Hamann, 1891), parasite of South American amphibians.

Acanthocephalus lutzi (Hamann, 1891) is proposed to be transferred to the genus Pseudoacanthocephalus Petrochenko, 1956 based on the type material from Rhinella marina (L.) from Brazil and recently collected material from R. arenarum (Hensel) from Argentina. Pseudoacanthocephalus is characterised by the following features: a cylindrical trunk without spines, a cylindrical proboscis, testes in tandem, a compact cluster of cement glands, a nearly terminal male genital pore, a ventral and sub-terminal female genital pore, and egg without polar prolongations, containing a holoechinate acanthor. Pseudoacanthocephalus lutzi comb. n. has a proboscis armature of 14-18 longitudinal rows of 5-8 hooks each, with all roots formed by a posteriorly directed longitudinal spatulate sheet having a central rib, and an inconspicuous sheet directed anteriorly; a variable number (4, 5 or 6) of cement glands; a cerebral ganglion located near the base of the proboscis receptacle; digitiform to claviform lemnisci, as long as, or slightly shorter or slightly longer than the proboscis receptacle; a sigmoid-shaped posterior end in males; an egg with a conspicuous fibrillar coat; and one of the larval hooks more robust and different in shape than the others. Additionally, the type material of Acanthocephalus saopaulensis Smales, 2007 from Rhinella icterica (Spix) from Brazil and a paratype of A. caspanensis Fernández et Ibarra Vidal, 1992 from R. spinulosa (Wiegmann) from Chile were studied. Acanthocephalus saopaulensis is considered conspecific with P. lutzi and A. caspanensis is transferred to Pseudoacanthocephalus because it possesses all the characters of the genus mentioned above. The use of characters such as egg morphology and host ecology for distinguishing Acanthocephalus from Pseudoacanthocephalus is also discussed.