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Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

On-line version ISSN 2219-0635
Print version ISSN 0030-2465

Onderstepoort j. vet. res. vol.75 n.3 Pretoria  2008

 

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Cercariae developing in Lymnaea natalensis Krauss, 1848 collected in the vicinity of Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa

 

 

E.B.E. MoemaI; P.H. KingI; C. BakerII

IDepartment of Biology, University of Limpopo, Medunsa Campus, P.O. Box 139, Medunsa, 0204 South Africa
IIElectron Microscope Unit, University of Limpopo, Medunsa Campus, P.O. Box 84, Medunsa, 0204 South Africa

 

 


ABSTRACT

Freshwater snails are known to serve as first intermediate hosts for various parasitic diseases such as schistosomosis and fasciolosis. Snails were collected on several occasions in the proximity of Pretoria, South Africa and their cercarial sheddings were studied. This article describes three different types of cercariae shed by the freshwater snail, Lymnaea natalensis, viz. a fork-tailed cercaria of a Trichobilharzia sp., an avian parasite belonging to the family Schistosomatidae, an echinostomatid cercaria of the family Echinostomatidae, also avian parasites and a xiphidiocercaria of the family Plagiorchiidae which parasitise avians and amphibians. The morphology of these cercariae was studied by light and scanning electron microscopy.

Keywords: Cercariae, Lymnaea natalensis, parasites, Schistosoma, snails, Trichobilharzia, sp.


 

 

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Accepted for publication 21 May 2008-Editor

 

 

* Author to whom correspondence is to be directed: E-mail: pking@ul.ac.za

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