Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2009
Data on 279 species of trematodes of birds and mammals are analysed in tables, to show the molluscan orders and families that act as first intermediate hosts of various trematode families.
Host-specificity is highly developed in the first larvae of trematodes and it is suggested that, as a consequence of this, certain species, genera and families of molluscs harbour a greater variety of trematodes than others. The families Lymnaeidae, Physidae, Planorbidae, Hydrobiidae and Thiaridae are by far the most important first-intermediate hosts of the trematodes of birds and mammals whose life cycles are known; each family acting as host of not less than twenty-four species and eight families of trematodes.
This paper is published with the approval of the Director General of Health, Canberra, A.C.T.