Head Collar Research Articles

On a new trematode from a black-necked stork, Xenorhynchus asiaticus.

These trematodes were collected from the large intestine of a black-necked stork which had died in the Zoological Gardens, London. All the specimens present are damaged and there is only one piece showing the anterior part containing the head collar. It was not possible to determine the exact length of the specimens, but they are long and slender and measure at least 18 mm. in length. The body is almost uniform in width except in the regions of the ventral sucker and the testes where it is broader. The cuticle is thickly covered with spines in the anterior region of the body from the posterior border of the head collar to the posterior rim of the ventral sucker. On the dorsal surface the spines form a semicircle around the region of the ventral sucker and extend on either side of it. On the ventral surface very few spines are present on the sides of the sucker. The size of these spines varies a lot; in the anterior part they are very small, their size increasing towards the posterior region up to the end of the oesophagus from where it decreases again till the last row of spines which are very small.