Oviposition, hatching and the oncomiracidium of Eupolystoma anterorchis (Monogenoidea)

Abstract

SummaryEupolystoma anterorchis Tinsley, 1978, infects the urinary bladder of Bufo pardalis at the Cape, South Africa. Reproduction occurs throughout the year but the eggs are not deposited continuously: up to 300 are retained in the long uterus of the parasite and may develop to the point of hatching. The eggs are deposited intermittently en masse. The stimulus for deposition appeared to be osmotic, since worms transferred from the host's bladder into freshwater released their stored eggs. However, in simple experiments where hosts were transferred from dry land to water such egg deposition did not follow and the stimulus requires further investigation. Once discharged from the uterus the oncomiracidia hatch rapidly both in water and in host urine. Those eggs immediately expelled from the bladder at urination release larvae which can infect the same or other host individuals via the cloaca. But when eggs are deposited in the bladder between successive host urinations larvae can emerge and attach themselves directly to the bladder wall. These larvae develop to maturity alongside their parents, and this internal re-infection can give rise to massive levels of infestation. The distributions of the tegumental ciliated cells and sensillae of the oncomiracidium have been determined with silver impregnation. There are 55 ciliated cells whose pattern corresponds with that of Polystoma species except for the orientation of three dorsal cephalic cells. The distributions of their tegumental sensillae show greater divergence and the Eupolystoma larva lacks the hamulus primordia typical of Polystoma.