The Alimentary System of a Pentastomid from the Indian Water-Snake Natrix piscator Schneider

Abstract

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Investigation of different ontogenetic stages of Raillietiella sp. (Pentastomida: Cephalobaenida): the midgut in nutrition and digestion

“…The division into two types of intestinal cells found in stages from the L IV onward was previously described by Rao and Jennings (1959) for Raillietiella sp. and by Riley (1972) and Thomas and BoÈ ckeler (1992) for R. sternae.…”

“…Therefore, the description of immediate hemolysis in the midgut of Raillietiella sp. given by Rao and Jennings (1959) must be revised. The early disappearance of the leukocytes and the release of hemoglobin by the lysing erythrocytes takes place as described in R. sternae (Thomas and BoÈ ckeler 1992).…”

“…from Tarentola annularis (Mattei et al 1985) and in R. sternae (Thomas, unpublished results) could not be demonstrated in the present study. The ®ne crystalline residual bodies of hematin appearing at the end of digestion represent the ®nal product of digestion (Rao and Jennings 1959;Riley 1986). In contrast to R. sternae (Thomas and BoÈ ckeler 1992), the hematin granules in Raillietiella do not aggregate in large lumps.…”

“…The iron detected inside the midgut cells of our raillietiellids (unpublished data) and of other pentastomids as well (Rao and Jennings 1959;Doucet 1965;Riley 1972;Thomas and BoÈ ckeler 1994) was valued by Riley (1972) as an indication of partial intracellular digestion. This opinion is supported by the observation that iron was detectable only in the lysosomes of the bloodsucking adults, whereas none could be found in these organelles in the midgut of the L IV (Thomas, unpublished results).…”

“…To date the midgut of pentastomids has been investigated in adult specimens only (Rao and Jennings 1959;Doucet 1965;Riley 1972). During previous investigations we examined the midgut of the adult cephalobaenids Reighardia sternae, Raillietiella hemidactyli, R. boulengeri, and Cephalobaena tetrapoda (Thomas andBoÈ ckeler 1992, 1994).…”