Larval Trematode Infections in Snails of Different Sizes

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Abstract
Infections of Ribeiroia ondatrae (Price, 1931), Petasiger nitidis Linton, 1928 and Echinoparyphium recurvatum (Linstow, 1873) were studied in snail intermediate hosts of different sizes. The numbers of daughter rediae were much greater in large snails than in smaller ones. The most striking examples were infections of E. recurvatum in very large specimens of Bulimnea megasoma and in the small adults of Fossaria abrussa and small juveniles of Stagnicola emarginata; the counts of daughter rediae were in some instances 30 to 40 times greater in the largest snails than in the smallest ones. Measurements of rediae indicated that their size was not related to the size of the snail host. It was suggested that in the small snails the production of daughter rediae was limited in some way so that no more were produced than could develop normally.

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