Abstract
SUMMARYUsing a range of infection techniques, the ability of cercariae of the ectoparasitic digenean Transversotrema patialense to infect 24 species of tropical freshwater fish is examined. Of the 24 species (from 11 families) it is possible to infect 21 (from 8 families) under laboratory conditions. Reproductive success (R) for T. patialense from the cercarial infection process to the production of viable eggs by adult flukes is estimated for infections on two fish hosts, the cyprinid Brwhydanio rerio and the characinid Cheirodon sp. in controlled laboratory conditions. To calculate R, separate estimations of parasite infectivity, survival, fecundity and egg viability were made on populations of both host species. The enhanced reproductive success (R) of T. patialense on Cheirodon sp. is the composite resultant of higher infectivity, lower mean expected adult fluke life-span and higher mean fecundity/surviving worm when compared with infections on B. rerio under identical experimental conditions. Different patterns of egg viability of the two hosts do not materially influence differential reproductive success. A variety of formal techniques for handling the interacting components of reproductive success are described. The relationship between these techniques and the concept of basic reproductive rate, R0 (Macdonald, 1957; Anderson, 1982) is assessed.
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