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Volume 16, Number 9—September 2010
Research

Cercarial Dermatitis Transmitted by Exotic Marine Snail

Sara V. BrantComments to Author , Andrew N. Cohen, David James, Lucia Hui, Albert Hom, and Eric S. Loker
Author affiliations: Author affiliations: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (S.V. Brant, E.S. Loker); Center for Research on Aquatic Bioinvasions, Richmond, California, USA (A.N. Cohen); Alameda County Vector Control Services District, Alameda, California, USA (D. James, L. Hui, A. Hom)

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Table 2

Characteristics of selected schistosome cercariae from 5 locations, United States*

Characteristic
 Schistosome
Species Unidentified Gigantobilharzia huttoni G. huronensis Austrobilharzia variglandis A. variglandis A. variglandis
Number 14 30 50 ? 10 232
Fixative Alcohol Formalin Formalin Bouin solution or hot corrosive sublimate fluid Formalin Formalin
Host species Haminoea japonica H. antillarum guadalupensis Physa gyrina Ilyanassa obsoleta I. obsoleta I. obsoleta
Collection location San Francisco Bay, CA Virginia Key, Miami, FL Ann Arbor, MI Quamquissett Harbor, MA Rhode Island San Francisco Bay, CA
Body length 188 ± 4.8
(160–216) 152 ± 1.4
(135–164) 240
(195–270) 262 237
(220–250) 258
(241–275)
Body width 58 ± 1.3
(50–64) 35 ± 0.7
(48–64) 72.5
(63.7–105) 77 72.5
(69.0–79.0) –
Tail stem length 175 ± 3.3
(155–197) 154 ± 1.2
(140–166) 268.5
(255–300) 157 228
(200–236) 286
(264–315)
Tail stem width 24 ± 0.7
(21–29) 19 ± 0.3
(16–22) 30
(22.5–45) – 22–36 –
Furca length 78 ± 2.6
(60–92) 79 ± 0.8
(72–86) 146.8
(102.5–172.5) 105 126
(120–140) 190
(161–216)
Furca width 13 ± 0.6
(10–16) 10 ± 0.4
(6–13) 15 – 12.0–16.5 –
Oral sucker length 57 ± 1.9
(49–70) 63 ± 0.6
(54–70) – – 72
(66–85) –
Oral sucker width 46 ± 0.7
(43–51) 53 ± 0.7
(48–64) – – 43
(40–45) –
Ventral sucker to posterior end 54 ± 3.3
(35–76) 44 ± 0.1
(35–51) – – – –
Body length:tail stem length 1.1 0.99 0.89 1.7 1 0.9
Tail stem length:furca length 2.2 1.9 1.8 1.5 1.8 1.5
Pairs of flame cells† 4 + 1 4 + 1 4 + 1 5 + 1 5 + 1 –
Pairs of penetration glands 3 5–6 5 6 6 –
Reference This report (24,29) (30) (31) (14) (1)

*Values are mean ± SE in microns (range), or range only, unless otherwise indicated. For Miller and Northup (31), the tail stem and furca lengths were estimated values based on information in the text. For Grodhaus and Keh (1), the ranges were mean values for 7 lots of cercariae obtained from 7 snails.
†No. pairs in body plus no. pairs in tail.

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