stevens (christop at gopher.lscf.ucsb.edu) wrote:
: HI! Does anybody know if there is a body of literature out there on
: vertebrate or invertebrate predation on cercariae? I am particularly
: interested in species where the predator is NOT serving as a second
: intermediate host. I am interested in reading about the impact of
: unsuitable host species on cercarial abundance in a field (or lab)
: system. The only study that I have seen is from the 1960's by Rowan
: working on Puerto Rican schistosomes. Any info or help would be much
: appreciated!
: Theresa Stevens
:stevens at lifesci.ucsb.edu
Theresa:
You might want to follow up on the genus Chaetogaster. Spiffy little
oligochaete worm that lives INSIDE the aperature of freshwater snails.
Chaetogaster are predators, and they are widely reported as cercarial
predators. I did some work with them about 8 years ago, and it turns out
that the Chaetogaster load of a Physid snail correlates quite nicely
with the snail's cercarial load.
Rich
--
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R. E. Clopton "It's quite disgusting really. It's not a
Dept. Entomology at all a natural part of our western
Texas A&M University democracy. It's a bit of Leninist detritus
septate at tam2000.tamu.edu left over from the cold war."
--Jean LeCarre on Political Correctness
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