A new species of &lt;i&gt;Microphallus&lt;/i&gt; (Trematoda: Microphallidae) from Venezuela

M T Díaz,L E Hernández,A K Bashirullah

doi:10.15517/rbt.v52i2.15251

Abstract

During 1997-1999, a total of 94 crabs, Uca rapax were collected from La Sabana, La Ceiba and El Paujil, Sucre State, Venezuela. Of these 36 were infected with metacercariae. Two parasites were located in the abdominal muscles and one under the tissue of carapace and gonad. These metacercariae grew to adults in the following genera: Levinseniella, Microphallus and Maritrema, in the period of 2-5 days after feeding experimentally to the rat Rattus norvegicus, mice Mus musculus and duck Cairinia moschata. Specimens of the genus Microphallus were described herein as a new species M. sabanensis. The life cycle of M. sabanensis sp.nov. were studied experimentally using rat, mice and duck. All developmental stages and the adult are described. In addition, M. sabanensis was collected from wild birds Anas discors, Pluvialis squatarola, Butorides striatus, Egretta caerulea and Nycticorax violaceus from the same localities.

Highlights

Adult worms of the family Microphallidae occur primarily as intestinal parasites of birds and mammals, while metacercariae are commonly found in decapod crustaceans
In each of the known microphallid life cycles reported to date, Xiphidiocercariae resembling cercariae ubiquita (Lebour, 1907) Lebour, 1912, have been shown to be produced by sporocysts developing in various prosobranch snails
The objective of this study is to describe a new species of microphallids from Venezuela and some aspects of its life cycle

Summary

Introduction

Adult worms of the family Microphallidae occur primarily as intestinal parasites of birds and mammals, while metacercariae are commonly found in decapod crustaceans. In each of the known microphallid life cycles reported to date, Xiphidiocercariae resembling cercariae ubiquita (Lebour, 1907) Lebour, 1912, have been shown to be produced by sporocysts developing in various prosobranch snails. Encysted metacercariae of this family are known to undergo extensive organogenesis in gastropod hosts, but more frequently they do so in arthropod intermediate host (Caveny and Etges 1971). Significant contributions to the knowledge of microphallid life histories have been made by Cable and Hunninen (1940), Stunkard (1957, 1958), James (1968), Caveny and Etges (1971) which illustrate the pattern of the life cycle. The objective of this study is to describe a new species of microphallids from Venezuela and some aspects of its life cycle

Objectives

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Conclusion