NEIHPID

Acanthocephalus bufonis (Southwell et Macfie Southwell et Macfie) Shipley 1903 Back

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Taxonomy

Acanthocephala »
       Palaeacanthocephala »
              Echinorhynchidae Cobbold, 1879 »
                     Echinorhynchinae Travassos, 1920a »
                            Acanthocephalus Koelreuther, 1771 »
                                    Acanthocephalus bufonis (Shipley 1903), Southwell et Macfie 1925

Synonyms

(Echinorhynchus bufonis Shipley, 1903 ; Acanthocephalus sinensis Van Cleave, 1937)

Host

Amolops (marmoratus (A. afghanus)), Euphlyctis (cyanophlyctis), Haplobatrachus (tigerinus), Polypedates (leucomystax), Polypedates (taraiensis), Rana (Sp.), Rana (khare), Xenophrys (glandulosa (=Megophrys glandulosa))

Habitat

Intestine

Locality

Mokokchung (Nagaland), Kohima (Nagaland), Dimapur (Nagaland), Shillong (Meghalaya)

Description

Sexual dimorphism marked; males 7.83-8.53 mm in length , 1.29-1.44 mm in maximum width, comparatively smaller than females, which measure 11.52-15.88 mm in length, 1.74-1.9 mm in maximum width. Body elongated, cylindrical, smooth or aspinose with curved anterior and posterior ends, tapering slightly. Hypodermic nuclei numerous, rounded or globular in shape. Proboscis short, board, slightly conical, beset with hooks radially arranged; hooks slender, lying parallel to or projecting at slight angle from surface of proboscis; anterior rows of hooks much stouter and longer than those at posterior or basal region; all hooks with broad, short, pyriform basal plates embedded in proboscis wall. Short neck following proboscis present. Proboscis sheath or receptacle double-layered, muscular, hanging from base of proboscis. Two lemnisci present, one on either side of proboscis sheath, extending beyond it.

Male reproductive system consisting of paired testes, spherical or oval, nearly equal in size, lying closely apposed one behind another; vasa- efferentia after traversing for short distance joining to form vas-deferens; cement glands six, close behind posterior testis, apparently in pairs, close to one another; seminal vesicle close to cement glands; bursa protruded out, appearing as funnel-shaped organ containing penis.

Female reproductive system comprising funnel-shaped uterine bell, followed by thick walled flabby uterus, latter leading into short, thick-walled vagina which opens externally through vulva. Ovarian balls irregularly shaped lying scattered or in groups within body. Eggs numerous, mostly immature, scattered in body, greatly elongated, fusiform, with slight polar prolongations of middle shell, 0.052-0.066 x 0.021-0.028 mm; acanthor larva holoechinate, not observable in all eggs.

Remarks

On account of having an invaginable proboscis that is armed with hooks, proboscis receptacle with double walls, cement glands divided into several tubular lobes and eggs elliptical or fusiform with polar prolongations of middle shell, the present form has been assigned to the order Echinorhynchidea Southwell et Macfie, 1925. In having a somewhat spherical proboscis with numerous hooks, short neck, more or less claviform (not very long) lemnisci and 6 cement glands, this form comes under the subfamily Echinorhynchinae Travassos, 1920 in the family Echinorhynchidae Cobbold, 1879. Further, the characters, viz. gradual decrease in the size of proboscis receptacle, justify the inclusion of the present form in the genus Acanthocephalus.

Helminthological collections record

NEHU/Z - AA/1

Specimen Type

Holotype: W7770/1 in Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.

References

Southwell, T. and Macfie, (1925). On a collection of Acanthocephala in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Annals of Tropical Medicine and  Parasitology. 19:pp 141-184

Cobbold, T.S. (1879) Parasites: a treatise on the entozoa of man and animals, including some amount of the entozoa. London. pp 508 .