Records of Acanthocephala collected in marine waters from Australian fish and registered in the South Australian Museum since 2015, including the descriptions of five new species

Two hundred and ninety-seven lots of acanthocephalan material, registered in the Australian Helminth Collection of the South Australian Museum since 2015, were examined. Forty-two species of Acanthocephala, including five new and five incompletely characterised species, belonging to 19 genera, were recovered from 143 species of fish collected from 84 localities around the Australian coast. Specimens in 31 lots of material could only be identified to a genus-level taxon and six to a family-level taxon. Filisoma brevis n. sp. distinguished by proboscis armature of 14 longitudinal rows of 24–26 hooks; Neoechinorhynchus collaris n. sp. by a collar surrounding the proboscis; Rhadinorhynchus echinatus n. sp. by spines covering the whole trunk; Rh. feminispinosa n. sp. with only females having trunk spines and Spinulacorpus moriartyi n. sp. by a proboscis armature of eight longitudinal rows of 30–31 hooks, are described as new species. Only 4.4% of Australia’s 4800 marine fish species have been found infected with acanthocephalans. Preliminary findings suggest that their acanthocephalan community includes mostly endemic species.Zoobank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3F61A465-4BBD-4E02-AEA3-9AC17FAB9E86