A new type of endogenous asexual proliferation in cyclophyllidean metacestodes
2002
Galán Puchades, María Teresa | Fuentes, Màrius Vicent | Conn, David Bruce
We describe 4 metacestodes classified according to their morphology as belonging to the genus Mesocestoides (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea) in the abdominal cavity of an individual wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus (Rodentia, Muridae) trapped in a Spanish Mediterranean ecosystem. The morphological study of the metacestodes shows evidence of three types of asexual proliferation: longitudinal fission (presence of supernumerary suckers in the scolex); budding; and a third form of asexual division not previously described in cestodes, with a mother tetrathyridium containing some daughter metacestodes (endopolygeny). For the first time we have demonstrated different mechanisms of asexual division in a tetrathyridium-type metacestode, apparently of the genus Mesocestoides. Furthermore, this is the first report of endogenous asexual proliferation in any metacestode exhibiting primitive or gymnosomic development.
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