NEIHPID

Haematoloechus almorai (Freitas et Lent Freitas et Lent) Pande 1937 Back

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Taxonomy

Platyhelminthes »
       TREMATODA »
              Digenea »
                     Plagiorchiidae Lühe, 1901a »
                            Haematolechinae Freitas et Lent, 1939 »
                                   Haematoloechus Looss, 1899 »
                                           Haematoloechus almorai (Pande 1937), Freitas et Lent 1939

Synonyms

(Pneumonoeces almorai Pande, 1937)

Host

Euphlyctis (cyanophlyctis), Haplobatrachus (tigerinus), Limnonectes (limnocharis), Rana (Sp.)

Habitat

Lungs

Locality

Shillong (Meghalaya), Sumer (Meghalaya), Nongpoh (Meghalaya), Byrnihat (Meghalaya), Smit (Meghalaya), Khliehriat (Meghalaya), Umkiang (Meghalaya), Dimapur (Nagaland), Kohima (Nagaland), Mokokchung (Nagaland)

Description

Body fairly large, aspinose, elongated, with narrow and pointed anterior end, rounded posterior;2.6-8.14 mm in length, 0.836-1.954 mm maximum width across testicular zone in hind body. Oral sucker spherical, sub-terminal, double the size of ventral sucker. Latter extremely small, pre- or post-equatorial lying in ovarian region. Pharynx globular, of moderate size; oesophagus almost indistinct. Intestinal caeca fairly wide, narrowing posteriorly sinuous, proceeding almost to posterior end in post-vitelline region. Testes large, elongated to spherical, with smooth or slightly irregular out, line; anterior testis behind ovary and receptaculum seminis on side opposite to that of ovary; posterior testis more elongated, obliquely to anterior one. Cirrus sac long, narrow, tubular, containing vesicula seminalis, ejaculatory duct, cirrus. Ovary elongated, intercaecal, situated to the left of median line, indented on its outer wall divided into two halves, with outer convex and inner concave borders. Receptaculum seminis behind acetabulum, in level with and medially to ovary. Mehlis’ gland in front of receptaculum seminis. Uterus largely extensive, packed with countless eggs, passing to posterior end as descending limb, forming characteristic extracaecal fold, on the other side of body forming ascending limb also extracaecal till acetabulum, beyond which transversely coiled; never extending beyond outer borders of caeca; metraterm not clearly visible, ending at genital pore. Latter median between pharynx and intestinal bifurcation. Vitellaria approximately 21 lobe-like structures, extending from near beginning of second quarter of body to near posterior end, extra-, intra- and inter-caecal in disposition. Eggs elongated, oval, light brown, 0.012-0.023 x 0.026- 0.034 mm.

Remarks

Originally this form was described as Pneumonoeces almorai from Rana cyanophlyctis in Kumaon Hills by Pande (1937a). Freitas and Lent (1939) transferred this species to Haematoloechus. The genus Haematoloechus Looss, 1899 comprises a group of widely distributed plagiorchiid flukes, parasitic in the lungs of Amphibia; no less than 56 species have been referred to this genus world wide and at one time or another, have been allocated to as many as five genera (Kennedy, 1980). Odening (1958) divided the genus Haematoloechus into four subgenera of which only 2 (viz. Haematoloechus and Skrjabinoeces) are recognised as valid by Yamaguti (1971). Odening (1958) further assigned to Pande's (1937) form, almorai, the status of a subspecies of the type species Haematoloechus variegatus (Rudolphi, 1819) Looss, 1899; another from described from the Indian subcontinent, H. capyristes (Klein,1905) Ingles, 1932 from R. hexadactyla was also given a subspecies rank under the type species. The present observations are in agreement with the original description of the species which now has a new geographical record in Meghalaya and Nagaland, N.E. India. This species has been recorded from the same host in several parts of India-- Kashmir (Kaw, 1950), Andhra Pradesh (Khan and Mohiuddin, 1968), North India (Tickoo, 1970; Mukherjee and Ghosh, 1972), West Bengal, Maharashtra (Mukherjee and Ghosh,1970a, 1972), Tamil Nadu and Kerala (Singh, 1977). This species has also been reported from R. tigrina (Pandey, 1975).

Helminthological collections record

NEHU/Z - TA/3

Specimen Type

Holotype: W7759/1 in Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.

References

Pande, B. P. (1937a). On some digenetic trematodes from Rana cyanophlyctis of Kumaon Hills. Proceedings of Indian Academy of Science. 6(2):pp 109-120.

Freitas, J. F. T. de and Lent, H. (1939). Consideracoes sobre algumes especies americanas do genero Haematloechus Looss, 1899(Plagioichoidea). Livr. Hom. Prof. Alvario. et Miguel Ozpris de Almeida.pp 246-256.

Kennedy, M. J. (1980). Geographical variation in some representatives of Haematoloechus Looss, 1899 (Trematoda: Haematoloechidae) from Canada and the United States. Canadian Journal of  Zoology. 58:pp 1151-1167.

Odening, K. (1958). Zur systematik von Haematoloechus (Plagiorchiidae). Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin. 34(1):pp 63-108.

Yamaguti, S. (1971). Synopsis of digenetic trematodes of vertebrates. Vol.1. Tokyo (Keigaku Publishing Co.).

Pande, B. P. (1937b). On the morphology and systematic position of a new bladder fluke from an Indian frog. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 20: pp 250-256.

Looss, A. (1899). Weitere Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Trematodenfauna Aegyptens, zugleich Versuch einer naturlichem Gliederung des Genus Distomum Retzius. Zoologische Jahrbüecher Abteilüng Füer Systematik, Oekoiogie und Geographie Der Tiere. 12:pp 521-784.

Ingles, L. G. (1932) Four new species of Haematoloechus from  Rana aurora draytoni from California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 37(7):pp 189-202.

Kaw, B. L. (1950). Studies in helminthology: helminth parasites of Kashmir. Part. I. Trematoda. Indian Journal of Helminthology. 2(2):pp 67-126.

Khan, M. M. and Mohiuddin, A. (1968). Notes of parasites of frogs, Rana cyanophlyctis Schneid and Rana tigrina Daud. Proceedings of  20th Pakistan Science Congress .Abstracts (3) Biology C: pp 35-36.

Tickoo, R.( 1970). On the morphology of Haematoloechus almorai (Pande, 1937. Observations on Polystomatidae (Monogenoidea) from East Africa with description of Polystoma makereri n. sp. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde. 42: pp 251-263.

Mukherjee, R .P. and Ghosh, R .K. (1972). Studies on some amphibian trematodes from West Bengal and Maharashtra (Part II). Records of Zoological Survey of India. 66:pp 273-276.

Mukherjee, R. P. and Ghosh, R. K. (1970a). Studies on some amphibian trematodes from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (Part I). Indian Journal of Helminthology. 22 (1):pp 61-78.

Mukherjee, R .P. and Ghosh, R .K. (1972). Studies on some amphibian trematodes from West Bengal and Maharashtra (Part II). Records of Zoological Survey of India. 66:pp 273-276.

Singh, M. 1977. Studies on the trematodes from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Records of Zoological Survey of India,72:pp 291-294.