Title: The Life History of Postharmostomum helicis (Leidy, 1847) n. comb. (Trematoda: Brachylaemidae)
Abstract: This study was begun during the spring of 1946, after the discovery of metacercariae, subsequently identified as Postharmostomum helicis (Leidy, 1847), in the pericardial cavities of the pulmonate snails Polygyra thyroidus and Anguispira alternata collected in Rockland County, New York. Several hundred A. alternata, some of which contained metacercariae and four of which were shedding brachylaemid cercariae (later proved to be of the same species as the metacercariae) were collected in the same region during the next two years. These naturally infected snails provided the larval flukes used to establish the infection in experimental animals, and their laboratory raised progeny were used as trematode-free invertebrate hosts in later experiments. Adult flukes, recovered from mice to which the metacercariae had been fed, were found to agree in morphological details with the diagnosis of the subfamily BRACHYLAEMINAE as given by Allison (1943) This subfamily was included in the family HARMOSTOMIDAE, established by Odhner (1912), with Harmonostomum Braun, 1899 as the type genus. Joyeux and Foley (1930) stated that Harmostomum Braun, 1899 is a synonym of Brachylaima Dujardin, 1843, corrected orthographically to Brachylaemus by Blanchard (1847), and that Brachylaemus is a valid genus. They changed the name of the family, therefore, to Brachylaemidae. Allison (1943) reviewed the literature on the morphology and taxonomic relations of members of the family. The life cycles of nine species of the BRACHYLAEMINAE have been traced experimentally, and portions of others are known. Life histories have been experimentally determined for Distomum leptostomum (= type of genus Harmostomum Braun, 1899, = B. leptostomum), by Blochmann (1892) and Hofmann (1899); Harmostomum horisawai, by Ozaki (1925); Brachylaemus fuscatus, by Joyeux, Baer and Timon-David (1932a, 1932b, 1934); B. virginiana, Glaphyrostomum mcintoshi and Panopistus pricei, by Krull (1935a, 1935b, 1935c); an unnamed species of Brachylaemus, by Dollfus, Callot and Desporte (1935); Postharmostomum gallinum, by Alicata (1940) ; and Leucochloridiomorpha constantiae, by Allison (1943). Life histories of several species of Leucochloridium, belonging to another subfamily of the BRACHYLAEMIDAE, have been elucidated. Work on species of this genus was reviewed by Robinson (1947) in a report on the life cycle of Leucochlor-
Publication Year: 1949
Publication Date: 1949-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 11
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot