Experimental infection of fresh water snail lymnaea auricularia with clinostomum complanatum (trematoda : clinostomidae)‎

Abstract EN

The digenetic trematode Clinostomum complanatum is naturally parasitizes the throat and esophagus of piscivorous birds, used aquatic snail and fishes (rarely frogs and toads) as first and the second intermediate hosts respectively.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of infection of fresh water snail Lymnaea auricularia with miracidium of Clinostomum because lacking the study on the life cycle of this parasite in Iraq.

Snails were collected from vegetation and debris in shallow water of Euphrates river and identified as Lymnaea auricularia, their eggs were isolated for production of new generation which used for the infection with Clinostomum miracidium.

Eggs of mature trematodes Clinostomum complanatum were isolated from the buccal cavity and esophagus of Bubulicus ibis and hatched to miracidium after 21 days of incubation, The fresh water snails Lymnaea auricularia were experimentally infected with miracidium of C.

complanatum.

The miracidium were ciliated with eye spot in the anterior third of body, the infected snails with these miracidium released cercariae after 30 days post infection.

The cercariae of C.

complanatum were fork tailed with two eye spots in the anterior part of middle third of the body.