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The morphology and biology of Xenopodistomum xenopodis from the gall bladder of the African clawed toad, Xenopus laevis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

R. C. Tinsley  and
R. Wynne Owen
R. C. Tinsley
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Westfield College, London University, London NW3 7ST
R. Wynne Owen
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT
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Abstract

Xenopodistomum xenopodis Macnae, Rock and Makowski, 1973 was recovered from the gall bladder of Xenopus laevis laevis imported from the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, during 1967 – 1978. The overall incidence amongst 396 toads was 2.8%, and while the maximum intensity was 8 worms per host, most carried single infections. The parasite was not represented in 570 specimens of 8 other Xenopus taxa from East, Central and West Africa. The internal anatomy of X. xenopodis is of a plagiorchild type, but the adult body form is unusual with marked division into a slender very extensible neck and a broad oval hindbody. Although apparently confined within the gall bladder, the parasite can extend its neck along the bile duct and into the duodenum: host gut contents or intestinal epithelium may therefore supplement the diet of bile fluid. The original description and generic diagnosis have been amplified and amended. X. xenopodis apparently lacks close affinities with other known genera, a characteristic common to many of the parasites which infect the clawed toads.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 1979 , pp. 307 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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