Aquatic Parasite Observatory

Echinoparyphium spp. (Dietz, 1909)

    • Species Name: Echinoparyphium spp. (Dietz, 1909)
    • Synonyms: None
    • Taxonomy: Animalia, Platyhelminthes, Trematoda, Echinostomida, echinostomidae, Echinoparyphium spp.
    • Life Cycle: First intermediate host are snails, (e.g., Physa), second intermediate hosts are snails and amphibians, and definitive hosts are birds and mammals (Huffman and Fried, 2012).
    • Description:
      1. (Translated from German) Small, slim body, tapered rear. Head collar with double kidney shaped, dorsally uninterrupted row of spines, spines of the aboral row slightly larger than of the oral. Tegument of the forebody spinous. Ventral sucker rounded, located approximately at the boundary of the first and second third of the body. Intestinal bifurcation just before the ventral sucker. Cirrus pouch slightly elongated backward until reaching the posterior of the ventral sucker. Testes elongated oval to elliptical, in the middle of the hind body, median, always in close succession, are often mutually flattened out. Ovary globular, median or slightly to the side, the posterior margin of the ventral sucker does not reach short of the front. Uterus short. Eggs not numerous, relatively large, 0.084-0.103 mm long and 0.052-0.068 mm wide.
    • Sources: Huffman, J.E. and Fried, B. 2012. The biology of Echinoparyphium (Trematoda, Echinostomidae). Acta Parasitologica, Vol. 57, Issue 33, p. 199-210.
    • APO Parasite Records: (by Life Cycle)

Parasite Images:


  • University of Colorado Boulder