Vaucherilepis trichophorus sp. nov., gen. nov. is described based on specimens of adult tapeworms found in the European water shrew, Neomys fodiens, in Bulgaria and cysticercoids found in crustaceans Gammarus (Rivulogammarus) balcanicus, in Ukraine. The most important differentiating features of the new species are the size (16-18 um, mean 17 um), number (29-36) and characteristic shape of the rostellar hooks as well as details of the strobila morphology such as the relatively large cirrus-sac, cirrus armament, testes arranged in a shallow triangle and a sac-like uterus which, in gravid proglottids, transforms into a single thick-walled capsule enclosing all eggs, facilitating a group infection of intermediate hosts with eggs. The morphological features of the new species, combined with the aquatic life cycle and peculiarities of the cysticercoid organisation, differ significantly from known hymenolepidid genera, therefore a new monotypical genus Vaucherilepis gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate this species. The diagnosis of the new genus is given and some data on the infection rates of intermediate hosts with cysticercoids of Vaucherilepis trichophorus sp. nov., are provided.