title: Larval stages of Brachylaima fuscatum in the terrestrial snail Limicolaria aurora from southern Nigeria.
abstract: Of 150 specimens of the gastropod snail Limicolaria aurora examined from the Edo and Delta states of Nigeria, 63.4% were infected with larval digeneans comprising mother sporocysts (12.1%) daughter sporocysts (20.4%) cercariae (43.1%) and metacercariae (24.5%). Attempts to experimentally infect three 14-day-old chicks (Gallus domesticus) and two laboratory-bred 4-month-old mice (Mus musculus) by oral feeding and peritoneal injection with cercariae were negative, although experimental infections of chicks via a cloacal drop yielded 62 immature and 37 mature worms from the intestinal caeca and ileum. The worms were identified as Brachylaima fuscatum (Trematoda: Brachylaimidae). The study also revealed that L. aurora acts as an intermediate host for B. fuscatum, in addition to Eulota sp., Helix sp., Helicella sp., Oxychilus sp. and Agrolimax sp.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Benin, PMB 1154, Benin City, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Awharitoma
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Okaka
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Obaze
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000469:parasitology; D006372:Helix, Snails / Q000469:parasitology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007814:Larva; D051379:Mice; D009549:Nigeria; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000635:transmission; D010274:Parasitology / Q000379:methods; D014200:Trematoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000635:transmission