On the Trematode Parasites of a Water-Snake, Tropidonotus piscator

Abstract

The material for this paper was obtained from snakes, Tropidonotus piscator, caught near water pools in Kamayut, Rangoon. Six were dissected, two of which yielded about nine specimens of Encydometra bolognensis (Baer, 1924) from the oesophagus on each occasion. One of them had only one adult and one immature specimen of Xenopharynx piscator n.sp. in its gall-bladder.bladder. Two others had their intestines infected with numerous specimens of Acanthochasmus burminis n.sp. Specimens of Encydometra bolognensis were obtained from grass-snakes, Tropidonotus natrix, by Baylis and Cannon and Baer on previous occasions. A different species of Xenopharynx, namely X. solus Nicoll, 1912, was obtained by Khalil in 1923 and by Nicoll in 1912 from the gall-bladders of Indian cobras, Naja bungarus and Naja tripudians respectively. It appears, therefore, that the types of the genus Xenopharynx are common parasites of the gall-bladders of the Ophidia in the Indian region. Species of Acanthochasmus have been previously recorded from reptiles as well as fishes.