During field surveys in Cape York, Australia, a new genus was recovered from Rattus leucopus, the Cape York rat. Study of the morphology, particularly of the anterior end, showed that Spirosprattus scyphiformis n.g., n. sp. is distinguished from all other species of the Spirocercidae and falls within the subfamily Ascaropsinae. All other ascaropsines are either cosmopolitan in distribution, occurring in bovids, cervids, or suids, or found in hosts endemic to South America. There is, however, insufficient evidence to establish the relationships between S. scyphiformis and spirocercids from cosmopolitan, Southeast Asian, or Australian marsupial hosts.