NEIHPID

Trichuris muris (Ransom Ransom) Schrank 1788 Back

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Taxonomy

Nematoda »
       ADENOPHOREA »
               Trichuridae (Ransom, 1911) Railliet, 1915 »
                      Trichurinae Ransom »
                             Trichuris Raederer, 1761 »
                                    Trichuris muris (Schrank 1788), Ransom 1911

Host

Ratus (nitidus), Ratus (ratus)

Habitat

Caecum

Locality

Hlimen (Mizoram), Darlawn (Mizoram), Bilkhawthlir (Mizoram)

Description

(based on measurements of 3 female and 1 male specimens): Body with slender oesophageal portion and thicker and shorter posterior portion; mouth simple without lips; stichocytes regularly aligned in a single row in oesophageal region; post-oesophageal region of body markedly thickened, with whip - like appearance, posterior portion bluntly rounded in both sexes.

Female: Posterior extremity slightly curved but not spirally coiled; vulva at junction of two body regions or right after oesophagus; anus sub terminal; eggs lemon shaped, with thick brown shell plug at each pole.

Male: Posterior end curled dorsally; single spicule present, well developed; enclosed in prepuce-like sheath with spiny surface; cirrus ususally with spines or tubercles.

Morphometric measurement of T. muris are given in Table 1.7.

Remarks

The genus Trichuris shows a cosmopolitan distribution and comprises about 70 species that parasitize a broad spectrum of dosmestic and wild mammals.T. muris is a common caecal parasite of rodents. In India, it has been reported from several parts of the country by various workers- Raina and Kaul (1974) from R. rattus in Kashmir, Kulkarni and Deshmukh (1984) from Maharashtra, Thakur (1997) from northern Bihar and Hemkar and Renapurkar (1992) in Suncus caeruleus from suburbs of Bombay.

The present study gives the first report of T. muris from Mizoram, Northeast India and Rattus nitidus is the new host record for the species.

Helminthological collections record

NEHU/Z-NM(RATS)10

References

Raina MK and Kaul RK. 1974.  A new report of Trichocephalus muris Schrank, 1788 from Rattus rattus in Kashmir. Journal of Sciences, University of Kashmir. 2(1/2): 70-72.

Kulkarni NV and Deshmukh PG. 1984. Comparative incidence of Trichuris muris (Shrank, 1788) and Ganguleterakis spumosa (Schneider, 1866) Lane, 1914 in Rattus rattus. Indian Journal of Parasitology. 8(2):297

Thakur S. 1997. Seasonal prevalence of nematode >Trichocephalus muris infestation in Rattus rattus. Journal of Ecobiology. 9(3): 229-234.