“…Members of the genus Raillietina Megnin, 1881 are obligate, widely-dispersed cestode parasites of avian and mammalian hosts and display a wide range of body forms, life histories, and host associations. Of these, R. echinobothrida is amongst the most prevalent pathogenic cestode parasites of birds throughout the world (Schmidt 1986;Khalil et al 1994;Mariaux 1996Mariaux , 1998Hoberg et al 1997Hoberg et al , 1999 and earns the distinction of being the second most prevalent helminth recorded from the domestic fowl in north-east India (Yadav and Tandon 1991). The adult tapeworm is found in the intestinal lumen of its definitive host, Gallus domesticus and causes characteristic hyperplastic enteritis associated with the formation of granuloma on the intestinal wall of the infected birds (Soulsby 1982), whereas the larval stage resides in various tissues of the insect intermediate host, Tetramorium spp.…”