Three new species of cercariae from Melanopsis praemorsa (L. 1758, Buccinum) snails in Al-Bathan fresh water body, Palestine

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Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine (2012)S1064-S1069
Year of Publication: 
2012
Authors: 
Sami Bdir
Department of Biology and Biotechnology, An-Najah N. University, P. O. Box (7)- Nablus, Palestine
Ghaleb Adwan
Department of Biology and Biotechnology, An-Najah N. University, P. O. Box (7)-Nablus, Palestine
Current Affiliation: 
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus. Palestine
Preferred Abstract (Original): 
Objective: To investigate other new species of cercariae encountered in M. praemorsa snails collected from Palestine. Methods: A total of 1100 Melanopsis praemorsa were collected from Al-Bathan water body, Palestine, from November, 2010 to November, 2011. Cercariae in Melanopsis praemorsa were obtained by emerging and crushing methods. Results: Other three new different species of cercariae have been identified from this snail. These species were Xiphidiocercaria (Cercaria melanopsi palestinia IV), Microcercous (Cercaria melanopsi palestinia V) and Longifurcate cercaria (Cercaria melanopsi palestinia VI). The infection rate of M. praemorsa with these three different cercariae was (42.2 %). Coinfection with Xiphidiocercariae and Longifurcate cercariae or Xiphidiocercariae and Microcercous cercariae has been noted and coinfection rate was 1.23% among the infected snails. The highest cercarial infection rate was in June (64.3%). No infected snails were found in September. It was also noted that infected snails attained a larger size than uninfected ones and all infected snails had a size between 17-22 mm (average 20 mm). Conclusions: Our studies imply that there are potentially more new species of trematodes in this area than were found until now. Due to the presence of infected M. praemorsa and may be species of other snails, water resources could be contaminated by the emerging new cercariae, consequently attack the local people directly via the skin or are transferred to them by metacercariae ingestion. More surveys are needed to identify the real prevalence of the trematodes both in human and animal hosts, and also to determine the range of snail hosts of the parasite in enzootic areas of the disease, as well as the life cycle and biology of trematodes and its effects on man should be elucidated.
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