Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T01:59:33.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Life History of Nematodirus filicollis Rud., a Nematode Parasite of the Sheep's Intestine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Charles L. Boulenger
Affiliation:
(From the Research Laboratory in Agricultural Zoology, University of Birmingham.)

Extract

1. The eggs of Nematodirus filicollis when laid contain an embryo with seven or eight cells, they pass out of the infested host with the faeces.

2. Even under favourable conditions development takes place slowly and the embryos are not ready to hatch until 24–28 days have elapsed. In their early stages the embryos are not able to withstand desiccation and are killed if frozen or subjected to high temperatures.

3. Whilst still within the egg-shell the embryo undergoes two ecdyses and when ready to hatch is enclosed in a tightly fitting sheath formed by the incompletely cast skin of the second moult; the larvae on liberation from the egg-shell are therefore in a more advanced condition than those of most other Strongylids (e.g. Haemonchus or Anchylostoma) and are in a stage comparable with that reached by the latter at the end of their period of free existence.

4. The sheathed larvae are often retained for a long time within the egg-shells and both in this position and after hatching can resist complete desiccation for considerable periods (twenty months or even longer); when dried they are able to withstand freezing as well as temperatures much above those likely to be met with in the open.

5. The free larvae will live for a considerable time in water, they possess well-developed migratory instincts and climb vertical surfaces, such as grass stems and blades, and the glass walls of the vessels in which they are kept.

6. The sheaths are cast off by the larvae when these are subjected to temperatures approximating to the blood-temperature of the host; completion of the second moult occasionally also takes place at laboratory temperatures under certain abnormal conditions.

7. No infection experiments were made on sheep, but other evidence shows that these animals must become infected by swallowing the sheathed larvae, either when free or whilst still enclosed in the eggshells.

8. A number of young stages of the parasite were met with in the intestines of sheep, the smallest of these being only little more advanced in structure than the larvae just after ecdysis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1915

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boulenger, C. L. (1914). A List of Nematode Parasites observed in the Alimentary Canal of Sheep in England. Parasitology, vii, p. 241.Google Scholar
Brumpt, M. E. (1911). Les Cerfs de la Foret de Chantilly sont decimés par les Helminthes. C. B. Acad. Sci. Paris, clii, p. 906.Google Scholar
Curtice, C. (1890). The Animal Parasites of Sheep. Washington, p. 442.Google Scholar
Hall, M. C. (1911). A comparative Study of Methods of examining Feces for Evidences of Parasitism. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Animal Ind., Bull. 135.Google Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1910). The Entozoa of the Hippopotamus. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1910, p. 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1911). Notes of Recent and some new Records of Helminthes in Man of which there are few Records. Journ. London School Trop. Med., i, p. 18.Google Scholar
Leuckart, R. (1876). Die menschlichen Parasiten und die von ihnen herriihrenden Krankheiten, ii, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Looss, A. (1911). The Anatomy and Life History of Agchylostoma duodenale Dub. Part II. The Development in the Free State. Records School of Medicine Cairo, vol. iv.Google Scholar
Martin, A. (1913). Recherches sur les Conditions du Développement embryonnaire des Nématodes parasites. Ann. Sci. not., Zool., xviii, p. 1.Google Scholar
Maupas, E. et Seurat, L.-G. (1912). Sur un Nématode de l'lntestin grêle du Dromadaire. C. B. Soc. Biol., Paris, lxxiii, p. 628.Google Scholar
Maupas, E. et Seurat, L.-G. (1913). La Mue et l'enkystement chez les Strongles du Tube digestif. C. R. Soc. Biol., Paris, lxxiv, p. 34.Google Scholar
Neumann, L. G. (1905). A Treatise on the Parasites and Parasitic Diseases of the Domesticated Animals. London.Google Scholar
Neveu-Lematre, N. (1914). Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxxix, p. 293.Google Scholar
Rallliet, A. (1893). Traité de Zoologie medicate et agricole. Paris, p. 442.Google Scholar
Railleet, A. et Henry, A. (1912). Observations sur les Strongylidés du genre “Nematodirus.” Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., v, p. 35.Google Scholar
Ransom, B. H. (1906). The Life History of the Twisted Wireworm (Haemonchus contortus) of Sheep and other Ruminants. U. S. Dept. Ayr., Bur. Animal Ind., Circ. 93.Google Scholar
Ransom, B. H. (1907). Notes on Parasitic Nematodes, including Descriptions of new Genera and Species and Observations on Life Histories. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Animal Ind., Circ. 116.Google Scholar
Ransom, B. H. (1911). The Nematodes Parasitic in the Alimentary Tract of Cattle, Sheep and other Ruminants. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Animal Ind., Bull. 127.Google Scholar
Rudolpht, K. A. (1802). Fortsetzung der Beobachtungen über die Eingeweide-würmer. Arch. f. Zool. u. Zoot., Braunschweig, ii, pp. 167.Google Scholar
Rudolphi, K. A. (1803). Neue Beobachtungen über die Eingeweidewürmer. Arch. f. Zool. u. Zoot., iii, pp. 132.Google Scholar
Schneider, A. (1866). Monographie der Nematoden. Berlin, p. 145.Google Scholar
Seurat, L.-G. (1913). Le Gundi, nouvel hôte du Nematodirus filicollis (Rud.). C. R. Soc. Biol., Paris, lxxiv.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. W. (1909). A new human Nematode, Strongylus gibsoni, n. sp. Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasitol., ii, p. 315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stödter, W. (1901). Die Strongyliden in dem Labmagen der gezähmten Wieder-käuer. [Diss. Bern], Hamburg, p. 86.Google Scholar