An undescribed nematode (Cystoopsidae) from a Boa constrictor Linnaeus (Serpentes: Booidae) collected in Amazonia, Peru

Five very large adult nematodes, measuring up to 30 cm long, were recovered from the peritoneal cavity of a male Boa constrictor found dead in a poultry breeding shed in the El Manantial rural settlement of the San Martin Region of Peruvian Amazonia, Peru. These four females and one male were identified as an undescribed species distinct at the subfamily level within the Cystoopsidae, a family containing nematodes which parasitise fish subcutaneously and the body cavity of reptiles. Although the worms were too poorly preserved to be completely characterised, it is unlikely that another infected Boa constrictor will be found in the foreseeable future.