Life cycle of Philophthalamus species for the first time in Egypt

Abstract

The present investigation succeeded in following up the life cycle of Philophthalamus species cercaria emerged from Cleopatra bulimoides snail till production of adult worm Philophthalamus species. This adult worm was extracted from the nictitating membrane of the eyes after 35 days post oral infection of one-day old ducks by metacercaria of Philophthalamus species. The worm Philophthalamus species have a mean length of 4.365mm. The most interesting result of the present study is the success in obtaining Philophthalamus species adult worm. Moreover Philophthalamus cercaria was described for the first time from snails collected from Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt.