Trematodes and their snail hosts have developed intimate parasite-host associations, with snails supporting a diverse and often species-specific trematode fauna. In the faucet snail, Bithynia tentaculata (Caenogastropoda, Littorinimorpha), a unique trematode fauna has been recorded recently. However, knowledge of the exact species identity, phylogenetic relationships, and geographical distribution remains limited as many of the species belong to groups with unclear or controversial taxonomical assignment. To contribute to our knowledge of the trematodes, we investigated the trematode fauna of B. tentaculata by examining a total of 556 snails from lakes in County Galway, Ireland. Using an integrative taxonomic approach including DNA sequence data analyses (28S rRNA gene, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, ITS2, cox1, nad1) and morphological tools (taxonomical drawings and measurements), we identified nine trematode species of seven families, with seven species occurring as cercariae (Cyathocotyle prussica, Lecithodendrium linstowi, Lecithodendrium sp., Asymphylodora progenetica, Sphaerostoma bramae, Metorchis xanthosomus, and Notocotylus sp.) and three species occurring as metacercariae (A. progenetica, Parasymphylodora parasquamosa, and Sphaeridiotrema sp.). Except for S. bramae, all are new species records for Ireland and provide the most western distribution of these trematodes in Europe. The trematode species recorded are known to use a wide range of definitive hosts and have a wide geographical distribution; among them are species members of genera that are zoonotic (Metorchis) and pathogenic to wildlife (Cyathocotyle, Sphaeridiotrema, and Notocotylus). There remains an ongoing need for precise identification of the trematode species to ensure that wider ecological contexts are correctly understood and biodiversity and disease threats can be accurately evaluated.

The tettigoniid Barbitistes vicetinus Galvagni & Fontana was described in 1993 as an endemic and rare bush-cricket of north-east Italy. Since 2008, this species has become a pest, causing repeated outbreaks with severe defoliations in broadleaf forests and neighbouring crops. Few data are currently available on ecology and life-cycle of this species, in particular about how temperature regulates egg-diapause and hatching phenology. The present work reports a field study regarding hatching phenology of B. vicetinus, surveyed with 84 emergence traps over four consecutive years (2013–2016). Moreover, the effect of temperature on the hatching was tested in the laboratory, exposing eggs to different temperatures. Field observations showed that hatching occurred between the end of March and beginning of April. In warmer years, hatching started early in the spring and lasted longer, while in colder years, hatching started later and was concentrated in a few days. Moreover, a significant effect of both elevation and exposure on the hatching start was observed. Results obtained from laboratory suggested the ability of the species to develop in the post-final diapause in a wide range of thermal conditions. After the diapause (terminated by a prolonged common exposure to low temperature) B. vicetinus was able to hatch from 6 to 23°C although, due to prolonged post-diapause development, hatching took place progressively later at colder temperatures. To manage B. vicetinus outbreaks, forecasting the seasonal phenology of egg hatching and its duration is important for an effective pest control.

Climate change, by its influence on the ecology of vectors might affect the occurrence of vector-borne diseases. This study examines the effects of meteorological factors in Japan on the occurrence of scrub typhus, a mite-borne zoonosis caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Using negative binomial regression, we analysed the relationships between meteorological factors (including temperature, rainfall, snowfall) and spring–early summer cases of scrub typhus in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, during 1984–2014. The average temperature in July and August of the previous year, cumulative rainfall in September of the previous year, snowfall throughout the winter, and maximum depth of snow cover in January and February were positively correlated with the number of scrub typhus cases. By contrast, cumulative rainfall in July of the previous year showed a negative relationship to the number of cases. These associations can be explained by the life-cycle of Leptotrombidium pallidum, a predominant vector of spring–early summer cases of scrub typhus in northern Japan. Our findings show that several meteorological factors are useful to estimate the number of scrub typhus cases before the endemic period. They are applicable to establish an early warning system for scrub typhus in northern Japan.

The life-cycle of Syphacia muris is described in primary infections of Wistar rats. The life-cycle of S. muris is completed within seven days and no moults were discovered inside the egg. Instead each of two moults were observed outside the egg up to 24 and 40 hours after infection, and TEM studies suggest a third moult occurs up to 64 hours. The development and maturation of the larval stages are described for the first time using both light and electron microscopy. Differences in the size and growth of female S. muris compared with previously published figures could be due to differences in the strains of rats used.

Inter-vivos financial transfers from older parents to their adult children are widespread in the United States. Childless people may simply make fewer transfers. On the other hand, because their giving is away from children, their decisions are more complex in that there are multiple potential targets of approximately equal attractiveness. Using data for 1996 to 2004 from the United States Health and Retirement Study, this article examines the differences between parents and childless older people in financial transfers to people other than their children. The results show that, overall, parents tend to give less than the childless to other people. However, some variation is found depending on the nature and target of the gift. Having children does not affect giving to charities but does reduce the prevalence of giving to parents, but not nearly as much as the reduction in giving to family and friends. It can therefore be concluded, first that there is little substitution between personal and impersonal transfers; secondly, that the sense of obligation to parents is not reduced by giving to charities or to children; and thirdly, that having children reduces the need to satisfy the desire for family and social ties by means of links to family and friends.

The populations of two dominant isopod species in a Pinus merkusii forest on the southern slope of mount Ungaran in central Java, Indonesia, were periodically sampled during one year using Tullgren extractions from soil cores. The aim of the research was to collect more information about the life-cycles of tropical isopods by analysing size-class distributions of two sympatric isopod species, belonging to the genus Burmoniscus. Biomass of the populations was estimated from length-weight conversions established for each species in the laboratory. The efficiency of the Tullgren extraction method was estimated by comparison to hand sorting; no difference was found between these methods.

The abundance of the two species differed significantly with time. Burmoniscus Sp. A was more abundant during the wet season, whereas the population fluctuations of Burmoniscus Sp. B were more spread over the year. Reproduction of both species took place in the wet season. Burmoniscus Sp. A had one generation per year, while for Burmoniscus Sp. B the situation was unclear due to extensive overlap of size classes. Comparisons were made with isopod abundance in other tropical and temperate forests. The mean density of the two species found in this study was 258 m-2 for Burmoniscus Sp. A and 272 m-2 for Burmoniscus Sp. B, while biomass was 80.4 mg m-2 and 37.6 mg m-2, respectively. The data suggest that densities of isopods in tropical pine forests may be considerably higher than in comparable temperate ecosystems.

The previously unknown life-cycle of Cooperia fuelleborni, parasitic in impala, is described. The morphology of the developmental stages are compared to those of other Cooperia spp. The similarity between C. fuelleborni and C. curticei is discussed as well as the differences between those two species. The morphological studies showed that C. fuelleborni is closely related to C. curticei of sheep, but also has some affinity with the cattle parasite C. punctata and C. oncophora.

The present study investigated the suitability and importance of buffaloes, camels, sheep, goats and pigs in maintaining the life-cycle of Echinococcus granulosus in Aligarh, India. A total of 565 (36%) of 1556 buffaloes, 20 (2%) of 1208 goats, 5 (1%) of 559 pigs, 6 (6%) of 109 sheep and two of three camels were found to harbour hydatid cysts. The frequency distribution of the hydatid cysts in each intermediate host species was over-dispersed and in buffaloes cyst fertility increased with increasing cyst size. Of 2171, 95 and four buffalo, goat, and camel cysts examined 327 (15%), two (2%) and three cysts respectively were fertile. No pig or sheep cysts were found to contain protoscoleces. The unfenced buffalo abattoir and the large number of dogs allowed access to the abattoir coupled to the number of buffaloes slaughtered in comparison to the other potential hosts, indicates that the buffalo is the most significant host for maintaining the life-cycle of the parasite in this area of India. Applicable control measures for the region are suggested.

Adult trematodes identified as Galactosomum ussuriense Oshmarin, 1963 were recorded from the intestine of Sterna hirundo and Larus brunnicephalus from Visakhapatnam, India. The occurrence of metacercaria of this species in inshore and offshore fishes is discussed in relation to the ecology of the snail intermediate host.

A study of the life-cycle and epidemiology of Pseudanoplocephala crawfordi Baylis, 1927 is reported. Intermediate hosts are Tenebrio obscurus, T. molitor, Carpophilus dimidiatus and Tribolium castaneum. The first three species are new host records. Development in the intermediate host takes 1–1.5 months. The completion of the life-cycle takes 2–2.5 months. Surveys of intermediate hosts, pigs, humans and rats were carried out. In Rattus norvegicus, the prevalence was as high as 22%. Epidemiological factors and suggestions for control measures are discussed.

Hydatidosis, caused by Echinococcus granulosus, is a cyclozoonotic disease of economic significance in Sardinia. The life-cycle involves stray and sheep dogs as definitive hosts and sheep, pigs, goats and cattle as intermediate hosts. The most important intermediate host is sheep, due to home slaughtering with ready access of the viscera to dogs. This survey was undertaken in 1987 to ascertain the epidemiological significance of sheep in maintaining the life-cycle. A total of 700 (91·3%) of 767 sheep harboured hydatid cysts. The frequency distribution of the number of hydatid cysts was over-dispersed. Of 497 infected sheep, 7·6% had fertile cysts, 75·7% sterile cysts and 16·7% fertile + sterile cysts.

The implications of the confused taxonomy of the genus Mesocestoides and the misuse of the name M. lineatus are described. In Southwest Germany rodents are intermediate hosts and red foxes are definitive hosts of M. leptothylacus. The shedding patterns of experimentally infected foxes showed that destrobilation occurs frequently and that there are long periods during which no gravid proglottids are shed at all. Lengths of worms can be taken as a measure of a possible crowding effect only when worms with gravid segments are present, i.e. at the end of the prepatent period (11 to 13 days) or at the beginning of a shedding period.

The development of Trichobilharzia australis Blair & Islam, 1983 in the intermediate host, Lymnaea lessoni Deshayes and in experimental definitive hosts, Muscovy ducks is described, 24 hours after entry into the snail, miracidia had lost their cilia, epidermal plates and lateral processes and became young mother sporocysts. They were located in the tissues of the head-foot organ of the snail and were oval in cross section but still retained the shape of a miracidium, and measured 0·058–0·66 × 0·041–0·049 mm. From the seventh day onward young mother sporocyts were tubular, thin-walled, irregular in shape and were in the tissues of the lung and kidney of the snail. On the 24th day mature mother sporocysts and young daughter sporocysts were found in the digestive gland. Between the 24 th and 29th day mature daughter sporocysts with fully developed cercariae ready to emerge, or already emerged, could be seen in the digestive gland of the snail. Cercariae emerged from the snail from the 29th to 46th day after exposure at 25°±1°:C. The prepatent period of T. australis in the Muscovy ducks was 22 to 42 days after the beginning of exposure to cercariae.

The life-cycle of Tremiorchis ranarum Mehra and Negi, 1926 (Trematoda: Plagiorchiidae) infecting Rana tigrina and R. cyanophlyctis is elucidated. Life-cycle stages, from egg to egg-producing adults, were successfully established in the laboratory. Life-cycle took more than two months for completion. Cercariae were found in the snail, Pila virens collected from paddy fields at Chelembra in the Malappuram district of Kerala during the monsoon months. Cercariae are of the xiphidiocercous type. Metacercariae occurred beneath the skin and in head, tail and body musculature of tadpoles of R. tigrina and R. cyanophlyctis. Adult frogs are refractory to cercarial infection. Frogs became infected when they fed on tadpoles containing metacercariae. Successive stages in the development to adult from the metacercariae were followed. Chronological synchronization in the reproductive activity of the host and the parasite is briefly discussed.

Experimental completion of the life-cycle of Paragonimus westermani (Trematoda: Troglotrematidae) (diploid type) from egg to adult has been achieved in the laboratory for the first time. A dog was fed metacercariae of P. westermani from naturally infected freshwater crabs, Geothelphusa dehaani. The adult flukes were recovered and their eggs were incubated in water at 28°C, hatching after 20 days. Laboratory reared marsh snails, Semisulcospira libertina, were exposed to miracidia from embryonated eggs. One of 47 snails became infected with a large number of 2nd generation rediae containing fully mature cercariae 245 days after exposure. Paragonimus-free crabs (G. dehaani) were then infected with the intramolluscan larvae. Of the 40 crabs examined 34–70 days after infection, 17 were infected with a total of 84 metacercariae. A cat and 4 dogs were fed with 55 metacercariae obtained. Eighty to 100 days later, a total of 40 flukes was recovered; 39 flukes were adults with eggs in their Uteri.

This investigation reports for the first time the establishment of a trematode life-cycle in the laboratory using in ovo cultivation of the adult stage. Microphallus primas metacercarial cysts were removed from Carcinus maenas crabs and chemically excysted. Using a modification of the technique developed by Fried (1962) the released metacercariae were grown in fertile hen's eggs to ovigerous adult flukes. These were removed from the under surface of the chorio-allantoic membrane of chick embryos 5 days post-infection and the fluke eggs recovered were used to infect laboratory-reared Hydrobia ulvae snails. When challenged against parasite-free crabs the cercariae released from the experimentally infected snails gave rise to metacercarial cysts that were again identified as M. primas.

Deletion and/or amplification of DNA sequences in Schistosoma mansoni were demonstrated by Southern blot analysis. Total cellular DNAs and genomic clones derived from S. mansoni miracidia, adult males and females were used as probes. EndonucleaseBamHI-restricted DNAs from miracidia, adult males and females of both S. mansoni and S. japonicum were reacted to each probe. Hybridization with a total cellular DNA from S. mansoni miracidia as a probe showed elimination of signals in S. mansoni adults. On the other hand, blot analysis using a total cellular DNA from S. mansoni adult males as a probe revealed elimination of hybridization signals in S. mansoni miracidia.Hybridization with a clone SmE15 DNA from S. mansoni miracidia as a probe showed no signal in the DNAs from 5. mansoni adults, indicating these sequences deleted in adults. Hybridization experiments using the probes SmF25 and SmM51 which are 13 and 2-2 kb fragments cloned from S. mansoni adult females and males respectively, demonstrated no signal to DNA from S. mansoni miracidia.Our data suggested the existence of stage-specific DNA sequences in 5. mansoni. We propose a model for multiple-step rearrangement of DNA sequences in S. mansoni during the course of development.

We investigated the timing of seasonal activity of the seabird tick Ixodes uriae by examining engorgement rates of off-host ticks and the prevalence of infested common guillemots (Uria aalge) and kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) on the Isle of May, Scotland. More than 99% of I. uriae fed during the period late April to early August which coincided with the seabird breeding season. No ticks fed in the autumn and winter, and none over-wintered in the engorged state. Peak tick feeding activity was during the hosts' incubation period in May and early June, when over 70% of birds were parasitized. Few ticks were active when guillemot chicks were being brooded, or during the early part of kittiwake chick-rearing. Adult female tick feeding peaked in the first week of June, while nymphal and larval activity peaked in the third week of May. Adult female ticks fed later than nymphs on guillemots and larvae on both guillemots and kittiwakes; however, there was considerable temporal overlap in the feeding periods of the 3 stages on both hosts. All larvae and nymphs fed in May and early June, but up to 18% of adult females remained unengorged at this time, and probably deferred feeding by 1 year. A small proportion of individuals which fed as larvae in May appeared to feed again as nymphs in July of the same season, thereby shortening their life-cycle by 1 year. The duration of the life-cycle of I. uriae on the Isle of May is typically 3 years but varies from 2 to 4 years. Ticks feeding on guillemots did so significantly earlier than those feeding on kittiwakes, possibly because guillemots start breeding earlier in the year. Breeding of both guillemots and kittiwakes was later in 1994 than in 1993. This delayed the activity of all tick stages on kittiwakes and adult female ticks on guillemots, but did not affect the timing of activity of nymphs or larvae feeding on guillemots.