Folia Parasitologica 45[1] 27-43 (1998)
Scolex morphology of Proteocephalus tapeworms (Cestoda : Proteocephalidae), parasites of freshwater fish in the Palaearctic Region
- Scholz, T (reprint author), Acad Sci Czech Republ, Inst Parasitol, Branisovska 31, CR-37005 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
The morphology of the scoleces of 11 Proteocephalus species, parasites of freshwater fish in the Palaearctic Region, was compared using light and scanning electron microscopy. The following taxa were evaluated: Proteocephalus ambiguus (Dujardin, 1845); P. cernuae (Gmelin, 1790); P. exiguus La Rue, 1911; P. filicollis (Rudolphi, 1802); P. mucrocephalus (Creplin, 1825); P. osculatus (Goeze, 1782); P. percae (Muller, 1780); P. pollanicola Gresson, 1952; P. sagittus (Grimm, 1872); P. thymalli (Annenkova-Chlopina, 1923); and P. torulosus (Batsch, 1786). Some features as overall shape of the scolex, its size, shape and size of an apical sucker were found to be fairly stable and species-specific. The taxa more easily distinguishable from congeners on the basis of their scolex morphology were P. cernuae, P. macrocephalus, P. osculatus, P. percae and P. torulosus. The taxonomic importance of the scolex is discussed.
Published: March 1, 1998 Show citation
