Folia Parasitologica 61[2] 185-188 (2014) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2014.020

Lymnaea cubensis, an experimental intermediate host for Fascioloides magna

Philippe Vignoles¹, Adam Novobilský², Johan Höglund², Martin Kašný^3,4, Jan Pankrác³, Gilles Dreyfuss¹, Jean-Pierre Pointier⁵, Daniel Rondelaud¹

¹ INSERM 1094, Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, Limoges, France;

² Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Section for Parasitology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden;

³ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic;

⁴ Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic;

⁵ Tropical and Mediterranean Biology and Ecology, USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE, University Via Domitia, Perpignan, France

Single-miracidium infections of Lymnaea cubensis (Pfeiffer) from Guadeloupe with the giant liver fluke Fascioloides magna (Bassi, 1875) (Digenea) were carried out during five successive snail generations to determine if this lymnaeid might sustain complete larval development of the parasite. Controls were constituted by a French population of Galba truncatula (Müller) (a single generation) infected according to the same protocol. It was recorded that prevalence and intensity of F. magna infection in L. cubensis progressively increased from F1 to F5 generations. Cercarial shedding of F. magna was noted only within F5 generation of L. cubensis. However, most measured parameters of infection in this species were significantly lower than those noted for G. truncatula and most L. cubensis died after a single shedding wave. Despite this, L. cubensis can be added to the list of potential intermediate hosts of F. magna.

Keywords: giant liver fluke, experimental infections, Galba truncatula, snail generation, snail susceptibility

Received: July 4, 2013; Accepted: November 30, 2013; Prepublished online: January 10, 2014; Published: April 14, 2014  Show citation