Present occurrence of Anguillicola novaezelandiae (Nematoda: Dracunculoidea) in Europe and its development in the intermediate host
Moravec, F.; Di Cave, D.; Orecchia, P.; Paggi, L.
Folia Parasitologica 41(3): 203-208
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-5683 PMID: 7883252 Document Number: 427085
Examination in October 1993 of a sample of 40 Anguilla anguilla collected from Lake Bracciano near Rome, Italy (the only known European locality for the introduced swimbladder nematode Anguillicola novaezelandiae), revealed for the first time the presence of 2 Anguillicola species: A. novaezelandiae and A. crassus. As in the years 1982-1992, only A. novaezelandiae was found, it is considered that A. crassus had been introduced into the lake quite recently, where it has quickly become a dominant species. The development of A. novaezelandiae was experimentally studied in the copepod intermediate host, Cyclops strenuus, for the first time. The copepods were infected with 2nd-stage larvae at 21-22 degrees C; fully developed infective 3rd-stage larvae were obtained 13 days pi. The general morphology of individual larval stages of A. novaezelandiae was similar to that of larvae of the related species A. crassus.