Descriptions of strigea cercariae from the Gauteng and North West Provinces, South Africa

Abstract

Freshwater snails are known to serve as first intermediate hosts for various parasitic diseases such as schistosomosis, amphistomosis and fasciolosis. Two freshwater snail species, Lymnaea natalensis, Krauss 1848 and Bulinus tropicus, Krauss 1848 were sampled from five localities in Gauteng and one locality in the North West Province from 2007 to 2010. These snails were collected in order to study their cercarial sheddings. They were found to be infected with three different types of strigea cercariae, of which the morphology was studied using standard light and scanning electron microscopy techniques.

Keywords

• cercarial sheddings
• freshwater snails
• hosts
• morphology
• strigea