Kolleru Research Articles

Life Cycle of Pseudodiplodiscoides pilai (Trematoda: Diplodiscidae) from the Gut of the Apple Snail, Pila globosa (Swainson)

Stages in the life cycle of Pseudodiplodiscoides pilai are described. Cercariae emerge from Indoplanorbis exustus and encyst in the open. Metacercariae excyst in the esophagus of the apple snail, Pila globosa, and grow to maturity in the stomach. In a previous communication (Murty, 1970) the author described Pseudodiplodiscoides pilai from the stomach and intestine of the apple snail, Pila globosa (Swainson). In the same collection of snails, Indoplanorbis exustus (Deshayes) shed an undescribed amphistome cercaria which resembled young flukes re- covered from the esophagus of P. globosa and was suspected to be the larval form of the trematode maturing in the gut of that snail. During further collections from Kolleru Lake, the adult trematode and the cercaria were encountered a second time. Uninfected apple snails were allowed to feed on the leaves of