Rhabdias bermani Rausch, Rausch et Atrashkevich, 1984

KUZMIN, YURIY, 2013, Review of Rhabdiasidae (Nematoda) from the Holarctic, Zootaxa 3639 (1), pp. 1-76 : 33-35

Rhabdias bermani Rausch, Rausch et Atrashkevich, 1984

( Fig. 16 )

Host: Salamandrella keyserlingii ( Amphibia: Caudata : Hynobiidae ).

Site: lungs, body cavity.

Distribution: Eastern Palaearctic (mainland).

Description: Body comparatively short and stout. Body length 8.37–9.97 mm, maximum width 440–548. Body cuticle swollen. Circumoral lips small. Vestibulum narrow, elongated. Buccal capsule funnel-shaped, 10–12 deep, 16 wide, its posterior walls surrounded by anterior end of oesophagus. Oesophagus club-shaped, lacking anterior muscular swelling, 448–481 long, with elongated posterior bulb 86–110 wide. Width of oesophagus anterior end 36–40. Nerve ring situated at 183–224 from oesophagus anterior end (40.7–46.6 % of oesophagus length). Intestine wide, filled with black contents. Vulva equatorial, situated at 4.25–4.65 mm from anterior end (49.7–50.7 % to body length). Vulva lips indistinct. Uteri sac-like. Eggs less numerous than in other species from amphibians. Egg size 99–130 × 43–60 (after Rausch et al. 1984). Rectum narrow, weakly sclerotised. Tail wide at the base region, tapering in posterior half, 174–257 long (1.9–2.9 % of body length). Lanceolate inflation of cuticle present on tail end.

Biology. Life cycle is of rhabdiasoid type. Free-living stages developed comparatively fast under room temperature. Females containing larvae in uteri were observed on the third day in the laboratory cultures. Two or 3 larvae developed in each female (matricidal hatching). Development in host was not studied. Larval and subadult stages were found in body cavity and liver of the host (Dr. G. I. Atrashkevich, personal communication). Gravid worms were sometimes observed to leave the lungs and enter the digestive tube of the host.

Material studied: 5 specimens, SIZK.

References: Rausch et al. (1984).

Figures

FIGURE 16. R. bermani. A—anterior end; B—head end; C—tail end. Scale bars: A—0.3 mm; B—0.05 mm; C—0.1 mm.