THE MORPHOLOGY, LIFE-HISTORY, AND TAXONOMIC RELATIONS OFLEPOCREADIUM AREOLATUM(LINTON, 1900) STUNKARD, 1969 (TREMATODA: DIGENEA)

Abstract

Digenetic trematodes from the white perch, Morone americana, were identified by Linton (1900) as Distomum areolatum Rudolphi, 1809. He (1901) referred specimens from the cunner, Tautogolabrus adspersus, and the winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, to the same species. These worms were collected at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Other specimens were taken from Bairdiella chrysura, Micropogon undulatus, Orthopristis chrysopterus, and Sciaaenops ocellatus at Beaufort, North Carolina. Linton (1940) included all these worms in a new species, Lepocreadium trullaforme. But they are not specifically identical with L. trullaforme and their taxonomic status has been uncertain. The metacercariae of these worms have been known for many years an unencysted distomes in the ctenophores and medusae taken in plankton collections. The discovery of an ophthalmotrichocercous cercaria from Nassarius trivittatus with the same morphology, has led to the completion of the life-cycle and the resolution of the taxonomic sta...