Studies on the Life History of Posthodiplostomum minimum (MacCallum 1921)

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Abstract
Physa heterostropha, from a pond in the New York Botanical Gardens, shed longifurcate monostome cercariae which penetrated the sunfish Lepomis gibbosus and Lepomis megalotus, migrated via the circulatory system to visceral organs, and developed to infective metacer-cariae in thirty days. The metacercaxiae were identical with the type specimens of Neascus van cleavei (AgersbOrg, 1926). Metacercariae fed to 1- to 4-day old chicks resulted in the recovery after 32 hours of adult strigeids identical with the type specimens of Posthodiplostomum minimum. Previous to this study, 2 species of cercariae, Cercaria multicellulata and Cercaria louisiana, were reported as the cercarial stage of Posthodiplostomum minimum. Cercariae used in the present study can be differentiated morphologically from both Cercaria multicellulata and Cercaria louisiana on the basis of the following characteristics: absence of an anteriorly directed tuft of spines at the oral opening, body spines posterior to an oral crown of spines limited to 10-definite rows extending to the posterior margin of the body, the presence of a pair of posteriorly directed body setae emerging laterally at the level of the most posterior pair of penetration glands, stae on the tail stem confined to 3 lateral groups, 5 pairs of caudal bodies present in the tail stem and the openings of the 2 excretory ducts on the proximal anterior surfaces of the furcae.
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