"So, naturalists observe, a flea has smaller fleas that on him prey; and these have smaller still to bite ’em; and so proceed ad infinitum."
- Jonathan Swift

September 11, 2010

September 11 - Crocodylocapillaria longiovata

A few months ago, you met Capillaria hepatica, a nematode worm that sometimes infects humans, but mostly uses rodents as its host. Today's parasite is Crocodylocapillaria longiovata, which is another Capillariid. This one, however, uses crocodiles, namely Johnston's Crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni) and the biggest, nastiest crocodile of them all, the Saltwater Croc (Crocodylus porosus), as its hosts. These nematodes live in the stomach of the crocodiles and lay unusually long eggs (hence their specific name), which will eventually become embryonated, as seen in the drawing.

No comments:

Post a Comment