Trematode parasites of snails from Edgbaston Pool: the life history of the strigeidCotylurus brevisDubois & Rausch, 1950

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Abstract
1. The life cycle ofCotylurus brevisDubois and Rausch, from the cercaria to the adult, has been investigated for the first time by using laboratory-bred primary, secondary and definitive hosts. The holometabolic metamorphosis with the formation of a tetracotyle stage in a second intermediate host has been described in detail.2. The cercaria ofC. brevisobtained fromLymnaea stagnalisin Edgbaston Pool has been found to be identical withCercaria helvetica XXXIVDubois from Lake Neuchâtel. The total number of flame cells in the cercaria is twenty, as opposed to the fourteen in the cercaria ofCotylurus cornutusRudolphi (= ‘Strigea tarda’ described by Mathias (1925), Harper (1929, 1931) and Wesenberg-Lund (1934)).3. In nature the second intermediate host ofCotylurus brevisisLymnaea stagnalis. Under experimental conditionsL. peregerandL. auriculariawere also found to act as second intermediate hosts, but neitherPlanorbis corneus, P. carinatusnor various leeches could act as second intermediate hosts.4. The tetracotyle stage ofCotylurus brevisis morphologically indistinguishable from the corresponding stage of other species ofCotylurus.