Leucochloridium

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Leucochloridium
Leucochloridium paradoxum.jpg
Leucochloridium paradoxum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Class: Trematoda
Order: Diplostomida
Suborder: Diplostomata
Superfamily: Brachylaimoidea
Family: Leucochloridiidae
Poche, 1907 [1]
Genus: Leucochloridium
Carus, 1835
Species

See text

Leucochloridium is a genus of parasitic trematode worms in the order Diplostomida. It Is the sole genus in the family Leucochloridiidae. [2] Members of this genus cause pulsating swellings in the eye-stalks of snails (a phenomenon colloquially called a zombie snail), so as to attract the attention of predatory birds required in the parasites' lifecycle.

Contents

Taxonomy

Species

A flatworm of the genus Leucochloridium parasitising a snail

Species in the genus Leucochloridium include:

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digenea</span> Class of flukes

Digenea is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral. Adults commonly live within the digestive tract, but occur throughout the organ systems of all classes of vertebrates. Once thought to be related to the Monogenea, it is now recognised that they are closest to the Aspidogastrea and that the Monogenea are more closely allied with the Cestoda. Around 6,000 species have been described to date.

<i>Echinostoma</i> Genus of flukes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-rimmed melania</span> Species of gastropod

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<i>Leucochloridium paradoxum</i> Parasitic flatworm

Leucochloridium paradoxum, the green-banded broodsac, is a parasitic flatworm. Its intermediate hosts are land snails, usually of the genus Succinea. The pulsating, green broodsacs fill the eye stalks of the snail, thereby attracting predation by birds, the primary host. These broodsacs visually imitate caterpillars, a prey of birds. The adult parasite lives in the bird's cloaca, releasing its eggs into the faeces.

<i>Leucochloridium variae</i> Species of fluke

Leucochloridium variae, the brown-banded broodsac, is a species of trematode whose life cycle involves the alternate parasitic infection of certain species of snail and bird. While there is no external evidence of the worm's existence within the bird host, the infection of the snail host is visible when its eye stalks become grotesquely engorged with the parasite's brood sacs. These brood sacks pulsate and move to imitate insect larva, attracting the parasite's next host, insectivore birds. The bird rips off the eye stalk and eats it, thus becoming infected. Later on, the parasite's eggs are dropped with the bird's feces. Similar life-histories are found in other species of the genus Leucochloridium, including Leucochloridium paradoxum.

<i>Novisuccinea ovalis</i> Species of gastropod

Novisuccinea ovalis, commonly called the oval ambersnail, is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Succineidae, the ambersnails.

Maritrema is a genus of trematodes (flukes) in the family Microphallidae, although some have suggested its placement in the separate family Maritrematidae. It was first described by Nikoll in 1907 from birds in Britain. Species of the genus usually infect birds, but several have switched hosts and are found in mammals, such as the marsh rice rat. Several species use the fiddler crab Uca pugilator as an intermediate host.

<i>Bithynia siamensis</i> Species of gastropod

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirorchiidae</span> Family of flukes

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<i>Clinostomum marginatum</i> Species of fluke

Clinostomum marginatum is a species of parasitic fluke. It is commonly called the "yellow grub". It is found in many freshwater fish in North America, and no fish so far is immune to this parasite. It is also found in frogs. Clinostomum marginatum can also be found in the mouth of aquatic birds such as herons and egrets. They are commonly present in the esophagus of fish-eating birds and reptiles. Eggs of these trematodes are shed in the feces of aquatic birds and released into water. Aquatic birds become hosts of this parasite by ingesting infected freshwater fish. The metacercariae are found right beneath the skin or in the muscles of host fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opecoelidae</span> Family of flukes

Opecoelidae is a family of trematodes. It is the largest digenean family with over 90 genera and nearly 900 species, almost solely found in marine and freshwater teleost fishes. It was considered by Bray et al. to belong in the superfamily Opecoeloidea Ozaki, 1925 or the Brachycladioidea Odhner, 1905.

Liolope is a monotypic genus of trematodes, or fluke worms, belonging to the family Liolopidae. The only species is Liolope copulans.

Diplostomum pseudospathaceum is a species of trematode in the family Diplostomidae.

Opecoeloides is a genus of trematodes in the family Opecoelidae. It has been synonymised with Cymbephallus Linton, 1934 and Fimbriatus von Wicklen, 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diplostomida</span> Order of flukes

Diplostomida is an order of trematodes in the subclass Digenea. It is synonymous with Strigeatida Poche, 1926.

Acanthotrema is a genus of trematodes in the family Heterophyidae.

Echinostoma bolschewense is a species of echinostome from the Czech Republic, Russia, and the Slovak Republic.

Echinostoma miyagawai is a species of echinostome parasite that is found in Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan.

References

  1. Poche, F. (1907). Einige Bemerkungen zur Nomenklatur der Trematoden. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 31, 124–126.
  2. Carus, C. G. (1835). Beobachtung über einen merkwürdigen schöngefärbten Eingeweidewurm, Leucochloridium paradoxum mihi, und dessen parasitische Erzeugung in einer Landschnecke, Succinea amphibia Drap. Helix putris Linn. Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum 17(7), 85–100.
  3. 1 2 Kagan, I.G. (1952). "Revision of the Subfamily Leucochloridiinae Poche, 1907 (Trematoda: Brachylaemidae)". American Midland Naturalist. 48 (2): 257–301. doi:10.2307/2422256. JSTOR   2422256.
  4. 1 2 Bakke, T.A. (1982). "The Morphology and Taxonomy of Leucochloridium (L.) variae Mclntosh (Digenea, Leucochloridiidae) from the Nearctic as Revealed by Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy". Zoologica Scripta. 11 (2): 87–100. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.1982.tb00521.x. S2CID   84501594.
  5. 1 2 Bakke, T.A. (1978). "Intraspecific variation of adult Leucochloridium sp. (Digenea) from natural and experimental infections". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 56 (1): 94–102. doi:10.1139/z78-013. PMID   630476.
  6. Bakke, T. A. (April 1980). "A revision of the family Leucochloridiidae Poche (Digenea) and studies on the morphology of Leucochloridium paradoxum Carus, 1835". Systematic Parasitology. 1 (3–4): 189–202. doi:10.1007/BF00009845. S2CID   35319619.
  7. 1 2 Nakao, M.; Sasaki, M.; Waki, T.; Iwaki, T.; Morii, Y.; Yanagida, K.; Watanabe, M.; Tsuchitani, Y.; Saito, T.; Asakawa, M. (2019). "Distribution records of three species of Leucochloridium (Trematoda: Leucochloridiidae) in Japan, with comments on their microtaxonomy and ecology". Parasitology International. 72: 101936. doi:10.1016/j.parint.2019.101936. PMID   31153919. S2CID   173994806.