The life cycle of Brachylaima ruminae n. sp. (Trematoda: Brachylaimidae), a parasite of rodents

The life cycle of Brachylaima ruminae n.sp. (Trematoda: Brachylaimidae), a duodenal parasite of rodents on the Mediterranean island of Formentera (Spain) is elucidated. The new species follows a terrestrial triheteroxenous life cycle. Eggs passed in the faeces of the definitive host must be ingested by a specific first intermediate host, the land snail Rumina decollata. Branched cercariogenous sporocysts develop in the digestive gland. Microcercous cercariae come out through the terminal birth pores of the branches. Cercariae shed by the snail are terrestrial, crawling on humid substratum. They contact the second intermediate host, another land snail, principally the species R. decollata and less frequently slugs and Helicids. Cercariae enter via the excretory pore and kidney duct to their specific final location, the kidney. Unencysted metacercariae develop in the kidney (also, less frequently, in the pedal glands) to the mature, infective stage. Infective metacercariae infest the definitive host when ingested together with the snail.     

Ostropella luxurians sp. nov. from the Russian Far East

Ostropella luxurians sp. nov. collected in the Russian Far East is described and illustrated.     

Life-cycle ofEchinochasmus macrocaudatus n. sp. (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae)

The life-cycle ofEchinochasmus macrocaudatus n. sp., from mother-sporocyst to adult, was studied under natural and experimental conditions. The aquatic snailsPyrgophorus coronatus (Prosobranchia: Hydrobiidae) from cenotes (sinkholes) of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, served as the first intermediate host of this parasite, liberating cercariae possessing an extremely large tail (zygocercous cercaria). Metacercariae of the fluke were encysted on the gills of the characid fishAstyanax fasciatus (natural infection); the poeciliidsXiphophorus variatus andPoecilia velifera were suitable experimental hosts. Feeding experiments withE. macrocaudatus metacercariae resulted in finding adult trematodes, possessing 22 collar spines (with 2 angle spines on each side), in the intestine of chicks and ducks.E. macrocaudatus differs from the most closely related species,E. schwartzi Price, 1931, by its larger oral sucker (138–170×118–176 m) and by the position of the acetabulum which is situated at two-fifths of the body length.     

Relictolepis gen. n.--a new cestode genus (Cyclophyllidea: Hymenolepididae) from rodents of the Russian Far East and the description of R. feodorovi sp. n

A new cestode genus and species Relictolepis feodorovi gen. et sp. n. having armed scolex is described ex Clethrionomis rufocanus Sundevall, 1846 (Rodentia, Microtinae) from the Russian Far East.     

Description and life cycle of Leuctra iliberis sp. n. from Southern Spain (Plecoptera,Leuctridae)

The nymphs and adults of a new species of the genus Leuctra Stephens, 1835, L. iliberis are described and figured.

The life cycle is presented as result of monthly sampling during an annual cycle in the Sierra Nevada mountains (southern Spain).     

Allocreadium khankaiensis sp.nov. and Allocreadium hemibarbi Roitman, 1963 (Trematoda: Allocreadiidae) from the Russian Far East: Morphological,molecular, and phylogenetic studies

Three species of the genus Allocreadium were collected from cyprinid fish in the territory of the Russian Far East: Allocreadium khankaiensis sp.nov; Allocreadium hemibarbi Roitman, 1963, and Allocreadium sp. 1. It is established that, according to morphometric values, the species A. khankaiensis sp.nov. has high morphological similarity with Allocreadium elongatum Achmerov, 1960; Allocreadium erythroculteris Achmerov, 1960; and Allocreadium aburahaya Shimazu, 2003. However, A. khankaiensis sp.nov. differs from A. elongatum and A. erythroculteris by vitellaria extension and size of cirrus pouch. In addition, A. khankaiensis sp.nov. differs from A. erythroculteris by the smaller size of the body and ventral sucker. A. khankaiensis sp.nov. and A. aburahaya have similar metrical values but A. khankaiensis sp.nov. differs by the shape of the testes: rounded vs. lobed. Species affiliation of another Allocreadium species is based on the morphometric identity with the species A. hemibarbi. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction using partial sequences of the 28S rRNA gene revealed a clear resolution of all Allocreadium species, excluding Allocreadium lobatum and Allocreadium neotenicum. The genetic analysis detected Allocreadium sp. 1 as a presumably independent species from the Razdolnaya River basin.     

The life cycle of Echinochasmus bagulai (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae)

The life history of Echinochasmus bagulai, an echinostomatid trematode in birds, is reported and stages in the life cycle are described. Natural infections with cercariae, which are of the gymnocephalous type, were found in the thiarid snail Thiara tuberculata. Metacercarial cysts were found in the gills of Aplocheilus panchax, Oryzias melastigma, Gambusia affinis and Channa punctata. Adults were obtained in the small intestine of Ardeola grayi. In laboratory experiements development of cercariae into infective metacercariae took 10 days in the gills of A. panchax. Mature flukes were recovered in 10 days in the small intestine of experimentally infected 1-day-old leghorn chicks. The eggs collected from the faeces of these infected chicks were incubated at 39 degrees C. The free-swimming miracidia were found on the fifth day of incubation.