Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T04:38:29.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Survival characteristics of the free-living cercarial population of the ectoparasitic digenean Transversotrema patialensis (Soparker, 1924)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

R. M. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of London, King's College, Strand, London WC2R 2LS
P. J. Whitfield
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of London, King's College, Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Extract

The survival characteristics of free-living cercarial populations of Transversotrema patialensis were described and shown to be age-dependent. The maximum life-span was found to be 44 h with a 50% survival at 26 h. Activity and infectivity of the larvae were also characterized by age-dependence, and were demonstrated to be closely correlated with one another. For individual cercariae, both activity and infectivity had dropped to extremely low levels many hours before death occurred. An attempt was made to interrelate activity and infectivity, in a theoretical manner, with the availability of energy reserves.

Conceptual understanding of the biological processes involved was aided by the formulation of simple mathematical models.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. M. (1974). Mathematical models of host-helminth parasite interactions. Ecological Stability (ed. Usher, M. B. and Williamson, M. H.), pp. 4369. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Bailey, N. T. J. (1964). The Elements of Stochastic Processes with Applications to the Natural Sciences. London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Bryant, C. & Williams, J. P. G. (1962). Some aspects of the metabolism of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica L. Experimental Parasitology 12, 372–6.Google Scholar
Coles, G. C. (1973). The metabolism of schistosomes: a review. International Journal of Biochemistry 4, 319–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, G. R., Glass, N. R. & Wilcox, J. C. (1970). Fitting non-linear models to biological data by Marquardt's algorithm. Ecology 51, 503–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, D. R. & Miller, H. D. (1967). The Theory of Stochastic Processes. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Crusz, H., Ratnayake, W. E. & Sathananthan, A. H. (1964). Observations on the structure and life cycle of the digenetic fish-trematode Transversotrema patialense (Soparkar). Ceylon Journal of Biological Science 5, 817.Google Scholar
Durois, G. (1929). Les cercaires de la région de Neuchatel. Bulletin de la Société Neuchâteloise des Sciences Naturelles 53, N.S.Z. Year 1928, 3177.Google Scholar
Dutt, S. C. & Srivastava, H. D. (1962). Biological studies on Orientobilharzia dattai (Dutt and Srivastava, 1952) Dutt and Srivastava, 1955–a blood fluke of ruminants. Indian Journal of Veterinary Science 32, 216–28.Google Scholar
Erasmus, D. A. (1958). Studies on the morphology, biology and development of a strigeid cercaria (Cercaria X Baylis 1930). Parasitology 48, 312–35.Google Scholar
Erasmus, D. A. (1959). The migration of Cercaria X Baylis (Strigeida) within the fish intermediate host. Parasitology 49, 173–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farley, J. (1962). The effect of temperature and pH on the longevity of Schistosomatium douthitti miracidia. Canadian Journal of Zoology 40, 615–20.Google Scholar
Ginetzinskaja, T. A. & Dobrovolskii, A. A. (1962). Glycogen and fat in the various phases of the life cycle of trematodes (in Russian). Vestnik Leningrad University. no. 9. Biol. Ser. fasc. 2, 6781.Google Scholar
Humason, G. L. (1972). Animal Tissue Techniques. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.Google Scholar
Lotka, A. J. (1925). Elements of Mathematical Biology. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Miller, H. M. & McCoy, O. R. (1930). An experimental study of the behaviour of Cercaria floridensis in relation to its fish intermediate host. Journal of Parasitology 16, 185–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J. H. Jnr. & Short, R. B. (1956). Longevity of miracidia of Schistosomatium douthitti. Experimental Parasitology 5, 238–49.Google Scholar
Rao, K. H. & Ganapati, P. N. (1967). Observations on Transversotrema patialensis (Soparker, 1924) (Trematoda) from Waltair, Andhra Pradesh (India). Parasitology 57, 661–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schreiber, F. G. & Schubert, M. (1949). Experimental infections of the snail Australorbis glabratus with the trematode Schistosoma mansoni and the production of cercariae. Journal of Parasitology 35, 91100.Google Scholar
Velasquez, C. C. (1961). Further studies on Transversotrema laruei Velasquez, with observations on the life cycle (Digenea: Transversotrematidae). Journal of Parasitology 47, 6570.Google Scholar
Whitfield, P. J., Anderson, R. M. & Moloney, N. A. (1975). The attachment of cercariae of an ectoparasitic digenean, Transversotrema patialensis, to the fish host: behavioural and ultrastructural aspects. Parasitology 70, 311–29.Google Scholar