A Cercaria of the Genus Haplocladus From Nucula Nucleus (L.)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The cercaria described here was found on 21 April 1936, in twelve out of sixteen specimens of Nucula nucleus (L.) from Cawsand Bay, Plymouth Sound. The parasite was found by Dr Marie V. Lebour, who kindly gave me the infested molluscs for examination. I have thought it advisable to publish these notes, incomplete as they are, as it may not be possible for me to obtain further specimens of infested Nucula for some time to come.The trematode was found to parasitize the digestive gland and gonad. The cercariae develop in irregularly shaped parthenitae which each contain from, two to ten larvae in various stages of development. The parthenitae measure 0.9–2.0 mm. in length.The cercaria is very large and has a long, forked tail (Fig. 1). The measurements on the left of Table I were made with an ocular micrometer when the living cercariae were slightly flattened under the pressure of a cover-slip.The body is elongate in outline, with a slight constriction just behind the oral sucker, and reaches its greatest diameter opposite the ventral sucker. The pre-acetabular region of the body is highly muscular and capable of much. extension and contraction. Near the posterior border of the oral sucker there are two blunt processes, ventro-lateral in position. In section, the body is somewhat cylindrical, and consequently it is almost impossible to obtain true measurements from living cercariae because different individuals could not be subjected to the same pressure under a cover-glass. The measurements given on the right of Table I are of mature cercariae fixed in Bouin's fluid without pressure, and supplement those of living cercariae.
Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: