On the Structure of Wuchereria bancrofti Adults from India, with a Note on Male Specimens from British Guiana and Fiji

Abstract

The present study of the morphology of a few specimens of W. bancrofti from India reveals no significant differences from previous published descriptions, with the exception of those of Maplestone (1929) and Maplestone & Rao (1939), which were also concerned with Indian specimens. In the writers' opinion, the male tail does not possess caudal alae supported by pedunculated papillae; moreover the grouping of the papillae in the Indian specimens follows the pattern originally outlined by Leiper (1913), and not the conjectured pattern of Maplestone (1929, 1939). The present description confirms that (1) there are 8 circumoral papillae forming 2 circles, an inner and an outer of 4 each, and that there are 2 lateral amphids; (2) there is an unpaired papilla immediately anterior to the cloacal aperture in the male; (3) There are cuticular striations in the male on the ventral surface only, anterior to the cloacal apertur; (4) there is a subterminal triangular piece, heavily cuticularised, at the distal end of the right spicule; (5) the female tail bears numerous minute cuticular bosses and on the left side, posterior to the anus, there is a single phasmid.