Chaunocephalus ferox
Creators: name: Greben, О. B.
name: Kudlai, O.
name: Korol, E. N.
name: Kornyushin, V. V.
name: Vasilkovska, I. B.
name: Kobylinsky, V. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Platyhelminthes
Trematoda
Plagiorchiida
Echinostomatidae
Chaunocephalus
Chaunocephalus ferox

description: <i>Chaunocephalus ferox</i> (Rudolphi, 1795) H o s t: <i>Ciconia nigra</i> (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ciconiiformes, Ciconiidae). S i t e i n h o s t: Intestine, crypts in the intestinal wall. L o c a l i t i e s: Kiev Zoo (originated from Borodianka, Kyiv Region). R e p r e s e n t a t i v e D N A s e q u e n c e: KT447522 (partial 28S rRNA gene). Description (fig. 1) [Based on 8 contracted specimens from intestine]. Body elongate, divided into bulbous forebody (FO = 53–56 %) with maximum width 1,182 –1,709 (1,452) and shorter narrow hindbody, with maximum width 595–1,279 (968). Body length 3,115 –3,628 (3,417). Tegument armed with large spines. Head collar reniform, strongly muscular, and well differentiated from body, 194–302 × 405–479 (245 × 448). Collar spines 27; four angle spines on each ventral lappet, larger than marginal spines, 120–148 × 20–25 (136 × 22); lateral spines in single row, 90–115 × 13–19 (102 × 15); dorsal spines in double row, 85–113 × 13–18 (99 ×15). Oral sucker terminal, transversely oval, 116–159 × 131–182 (133 × 155). Ventral sucker strongly muscular, with deep cavity, 502–690 × 497–614 (610 × 553). Sucker-ratio 1: 3.0–4.3 (1: 3.6). Prepharynx short, 69–75 (72). Pharynx muscular, elongate-oval, larger than oral sucker, 217–278 × 111–154 (244 × 136). Oesophagus 986–1,448 (1,168) long with saccular lateral diverticula. Intestinal bifurcation just anterior to ventral sucker. Caeca reach close to posterior extremity and open into excretory vesicle to form uroproct. Testes tandem, post-ovarian, elongate-oval, entire; right testis 200–41 × 163–343 (299 × 232); left testis 258–355 × 165–364 (303 × 230). Post-testicular region 531–792 long, occupying 15–23 % of body length. Cirrus-sac small, elongate-oval, 181 × 146, anterodorsal to ventral sucker. Internal seminal vesicle not observed. Genital pore median, closely anterior to ventral sucker. Ovary large, sinistral, pretesticular, transversely oval, 171–392 × 232–477 (281 × 338). Mehlis’ gland strongly developed, dextral, immediately pretesticular, 222–410 × 280–572 (305 × 382). Laurer’s canal and uterine seminal receptacle not observed. Uterus short with numerous eggs, 87–111 × 54–75 (99 × 60). Vitellarium extensive, follicles large, in whole forebody and two lateral fields in hindbody, confluent in forebody. Excretory vesicle not observed; pore terminal. Remaks The material described above agrees well with the diagnosis of <i>Chaunocephalus</i> given by Kostadinova (2005). The presence of 27 collar spines in our specimens is consistent with four species in the genus, namely <i>Ch</i>. <i>ferox</i>, <i>Ch</i>. <i>gerardi</i>, <i>Ch</i>. <i>similiferox</i> and <i>Ch</i>. <i>sinensis</i> (table 1). The present species differs from: (i) <i>Ch</i>. <i>gerardi</i> in having a distinctly smaller collar (194–302 × 405–479 <i>vs</i> 530 × 830– 1,000) and oral sucker (116–159 × 116–159 <i>vs</i> 380–400), shorter and narrower angle and marginal spines (120–148 × 20–25 <i>vs</i> 210–240 × 32; 90–115 × 13–19, 85–113 × 13–18 <i>vs</i> 130–135 × 21–30); (ii) <i>Ch</i>. <i>similiferox</i> in having a narrower collar (405–479 <i>vs</i> 590–670), shorter and narrower angle spines (120–148 × 20–25 <i>vs</i> 190–210 × 35–45), smaller oral sucker (116–159 × 131–182 <i>vs</i> 210–230 × 300–330) and ovary (207–487 × 157–391 <i>vs</i> 400–500 × 500), and higher limits for the length and width of eggs (87–111 × 54–75 <i>vs</i> 67–109 × 42–65); (iii) <i>Ch</i>. <i>sinensis</i> in having longer angle spines (120–148 <i>vs</i> 77–109), larger pharynx (217–278 × 111–154 <i>vs</i> 168–186 × 96–132), narrower Mehlis’ gland (252–495 <i>vs</i> 537–645) and higher lower limits for ventral sucker and eggs, and low or higher upper limits for testes and ovary (table 1). The morphology of the present form generally agrees with the description of <i>Ch</i>. <i>ferox</i> by Dietz (1910) and description by Iskova (1985); the latter based on material from <i>C. ciconia</i> in Danube Delta. However, specimens from our collection exhibit substantially smaller length of the body that we consider is due to the fixation of the worms inside the host intestine. Notably, the size of angle spines and the width of the pharynx of our specimens lie outside the lower range of variation reported by Dietz (1910). Also the length of the prepharynx and the maximum width of the ventral sucker in our specimens are distinctly larger. Specimens reported by Iskova (1985) differ from ours in having distinctly shorter dorsal spines and smaller lower limits for the length of the angle spines and egg width (table 1). , The genus <i>Chaunocephalus</i> requires detail taxonomic revision to assess the validity of all species included with a special emphasis on these from India. Such a large variability of number of spines (table 1) makes the validity of the species somewhat doubtful. Recently, the sequence of <i>Ch</i>. <i>ferox</i> generated in our study was used in the comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Echinostomatoidea Looss, 1899 (Tkach et al., 2016). The analyses show no support for the subfamily Chaunocephalinae Travassos, 1922, which resulted in a synonymisation of the Chaunocephalinae with the Echinostomatidae (<i>sensu stricto</i>). We believe the sequence provided by our study will be also useful for the molecular identification of the life-cycle stages of the species in the future studies.
description: Published as part of <i>Greben, О. B., Kudlai, O., Korol, E. N., Kornyushin, V. V., Vasilkovska, I. B. &amp; Kobylinsky, V. V., 2016, A New Record Of Chaunocephalus Ferox (Digenea, Echinostomatidae) From Ciconia Nigra In Ukraine Including Morphological And Molecular Data, pp. 99-104 in Vestnik Zoologii 50 (2)</i> on pages 100-103, DOI: 10.1515/vzoo-2016-0012, http://zenodo.org/record/6404100
description: {"references": ["Kostadinova, A. 2005. Family Echinostomatidae Looss, 1899. In: Jones, A., Bray, R. A. &amp; Gibson, D. I., eds. Keys to the Trematoda, Vol. 2. CAB International and The Natural History Museum, Wallingford, 9 - 64.", "Dietz, E. 1910. Die Echinostomiden der Vogel. Zoologische Jahrbucher, 12, 256 - 512.", "Iskova, N. I. 1985. Trematodes. Echinostomata. Naukova dumka, Kiev, 1 - 200. (Fauna Ukrainy, Vol. 34, is. 4) [In Russian].", "Mehra, H. R. 1980. Plathelminthes. Vol. 1. Trematoda. In: Ananthakrisnnan, T. H., ed. The fauna of India and the adjacent countries. Government of India, New Delhi, 1 - 418.", "Tkach, V. V., Kudlai, O., Kostadinova, A. 2016. Molecular phylogeny and systematics of the Echinostomatoidea Looss, 1899 (Platyhelminthes: Digenea). International Journal for Parasitology, 46 (3), 171 - 185."]}