In eastern Asia and western North America at least nine morphologically distinguishable species of digenean trematode infect the mud snail, Batillaria attramentaria (Sowerby 1855) (=B. cumingi (Crosse 1862)), as first intermediate host. Further, molecular and morphological evidence indicates that several of these trematode species comprise complexes of cryptic species. I present an identificati...

This paper challenges two paradigms long held in relation to the ecology of parasites in freshwater systems: (1) autogenic species are poorer colonisers than allogenic ones; and (2) parasites with direct life cycles are more successful colonisers than those with complex life cycles. Using new and existing data for Acanthocephala in freshwater fish from the British Isles, it is suggested that al...

To determine whether Schistosoma mattheei is present in the south-western Transvaal, sixty habitats were searched for the intermediate host snail, Bulinus africanus. Ten populations of this snail were located, 2 of which were infected with S. mattheei. Eggs of one of these isolates, originating from a spring in the Mooi River, were examined with an optical microscope. Scanning electron microgra...

The rat flea is the intermediate host of the parasites of bubonic plague. Fleas are regarded as free parasites as they remain on the host generally during the time they feed. The flea passes through the egg, larval, pupal and adult stages and the whole life cycle covers roughly three weeks. The eggs are deposited in places where the host rests. For egg-laying, the female usually selects dark an...

pachysentis canicola (meyer, 1931) is an acanthocephalan belonging to the class oligacanthorhynchida. these species parasitize canids and other carnivores as definitive hosts which are followed by ingestion of an infected arthropod as its biological intermediate host. we present here a natural occurrence of p. canicola in fox from iran with special attention to its morphological characteristics.

LEE, J., PILGRIM, W., MCLAUGHLIN, J. D., and BURT, M. D. B. 1992. Effects of temperature on the oncospheres of the cestode Microsomacanthus hopkinsi and its implication for their over-winter survival. Can. J. Zool. 70: 935 940. In an attempt to determine whether hymenolepidid oncospheres may overwinter and contribute to the pool of cysticercoids in the intermediate host population the following...

Collections of 'Echinorhynchus salmonis' from Britain and Ireland deposited in The Natural History Museum, London (1921.7.19.3-12 and 1952.10.30.122-127) were re-identified as Acanthocephalus clavula and Acanthocephalus lucii respectively. The amphipod, Pontoporeia affinis, European intermediate host of E. salmonis, does not occur in the British Isles, so it is concluded that E. salmonis is abs...

The intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica is Lymnaea truncatula in Switzerland. The snail and the free-living stages of the parasite require a moderate climate and moisture for survival, reproduction, and transmission. In Switzerland, these conditions are present in many regions, resulting in a mean prevalence of bovine fasciolosis from 8.4 to 21.4%. An interactive map was created in order to ...

We investigated the influence of the acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus on the mortality of its intermediate host, Gammarus roeseli, exposed to cadmium, by the measure of LC(50-96h) values as well as the bioaccumulation of cadmium both in the host and in its parasite. LC(50) results revealed that infected G. roeseli males died less under cadmium stress than uninfected ones; while the ...

Under laboratory conditions, snail Indoplanorbis exustus exhibited a strongly positive linear correlationship between duration of desiccation to mortality and body-weight loss and also body-weight loss to mortality. The adult stage of snail is highly resistant to desiccation, whereas the juvenile stage is highly susceptible. Reasons for decrease in susceptibility to desiccation with increase in...