Nematodirus battus: structure of the body wall of the adult.
Males of Nematodirus battus have a body wall composed of a longitudinally ridged cuticle made up of 8 layers, a hypodermis and a layer of longitudinal muscle cells which are divided into 4 sectors by the hypodermal cords. There is a characteristic cephalic inflation of the cuticle in both sexes. The structure of the body wall in the anterior half of the female is similar to that of the male. In the posterior half of the female the cuticle is not ridged and has 7 layers; the longitudinal muscles are reduced in number and the lateral hypodermal cords increasingly extend dorsally and ventrally along the length of the posterior part of the nematode and come to occupy most of the lateral sectors of the body. The possible significance of these modifications in the structure of the female nematode are discussed.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009132:Muscles / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012756:Sheep / Q000469:parasitology*; D014251:Trichostrongyloidea / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*