Life cycle of Oligacanthorhynchus tortuosa (Oligacanthorhynchidae), an acanthocephalan of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

摘要

Two Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) were experimentally infected with cystacanths of Oligacanthorhynchus tortuosa collected from naturally infected millipedes (Narceus americanus). The prepatent period of O. tortuosa was determined to be about 9 wk. Laboratory-raised millipedes fed feces from experimentally infected opossums containing ova of O. tortuosa contained cystacanths of O. tortuosa with inverted and invaginated proboscides at 82 d postinfection. This constitutes the first elucidation of a life cycle of an acanthocephalan of the genus Oligacanthorhynchus and constitutes the first description of the cystacanth of O. tortuosa.