Aquatic Parasite Observatory

Echinuria heterobrachiata (Wehr, 1937)

• Species Name: Echinuria heterobrachiata (Wehr, 1937)
• Synonyms: None
• Taxonomy: (Wehr, 1937) Animalia, Nematoda, Secernentea, Spirurida, Acuarioidae, Echinuria heterobrachiata
• Life Cycle: Some species of Echinuria have an indirect lifecycle where eggs are passed into the environment through the faeces and ingested by water fleas. The worms develop in the L3 infective stage larva and upon consumption infect aquatic birds (Taylor et al., 2016).
• Description:
• Adult as described in Anderson et al., 2009:
  1. Cordons extend longitudinally and expand largely on the cervical region. Cordons are displaced ventrally so that deirids are dorsal to cordons.
• Sources:Anderson, R.C., Chabaud, A.G., and Willmott, S. 2009. Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates. Archival Volume, p. 383-386.
  Taylor, M.A., Coop, R.L., and Wall, R.L. 2016. Veterinary Parasitology. Fourth Edition, p. 63.
• APO Parasite Records: (by Life Cycle)
• Adult

  1. Host Species	Host Common Name	Site(s) of Infection
     Larus sp.	Gull

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