NAME OF THE EXPERIMENT: STUDY ON IDENTIFICATION OF EGGS OF NEMATODES.

Nematode are either oviparous, ovoviviparous or viviparous. The eggs are vary greatly in
shape & size and parasitic nematode may lay few dozen (Strongyloides) to several
thousand (2,00,000 in Ascaris) eggs per day.

Ascaris: Eggs are golden brown in color, have thick shell. Eggs are roughly spherical and
contain a unsegmented cell with mass of granules.

Hook worm: The eggs are thin, hyaline and ovoid with blunt or rounded ends and
contains 2-8 large dark brown germinal cells.

Oxyuris & Enterobius: The eggs are asymmertrical with one side flattened and provided
with a plug at one pole. Shell is translucent and contain tadpole like embryo.

Trichuris: Eggs are brown barrel shaped with transparent plugs at either pole contain 7-8
dark germinal granular cells.

Capillaries: Eggs are light brown, thick wall with two shell. Bipolar plug present.

Dioctophyma: The eggs are barrel shaped and the shells are pitted except at the pole.

Toxocara: The eggs are light brown, have a markedly pitted outer shell.

Spirucerca: The eggs are oval in shape, thick shelled. The lateral border are almost
parallel.

Thelazia: The fully embryonated eggs are hyaline, thin shelled & ovoid.

Strongyloides: The eggs are oval with round edges, thin shelled and contain fully formed
larvae when laid.

Syngamus: The eggs are oval, thin shell. Operculum presentat either pole. Contain
sixteen celled embryo when laid.

Strongylus: Eggs are elliptical. Eggs shell thin, smooth. Eggs are segmented and contain
24-26 embryonated mass. The cell mass or embryo occupies almost the whole of the shell
but at both poles, there are frequently empty spaces.

Haemonchus: The eggs are oval with thin shell contain dark embryonated mass.

Gnathostoma: The eggs are oval with a thin cap at one pole. They have greenish shell.

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 1

NAME OF THE EXPERIMENT: STUDY ON GENERAL STRUCTURE OF SNAIL.

Snails are members of the Gastropoda, the most diverse class in the phylum Mollusca,
and are characterized by a spiral, conical shell of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), a large
muscular foot, and a rasping tongue called a radula. Intertidal snails feed on algae or
various invertebrates (e.g., mussels, barnacles, other snails) or are scavengers.

The most distinctive feature of a snail is its spiral CaCO3 shell, which protects the soft
anatomy from stresses and can vary dramatically within and among species in response to
environmental variation. Among species, the shell can vary from a simple conical cone to
highly spiraled forms.

The snail is attached to the shell via the columellar muscle and cannot be removed from
the shell. The shell is divided into the body whorl and the spire. The main opening to the
shell is the aperture, where the head and foot of a living animal extend through. When
snails are disturbed, they retract their head and foot into their shell and seal off the
aperture with the operculum.

Most intertidal snails are highly mobile and use the muscular foot and pedal secretions
(mucus) to move over the substrate. In addition, adhesion develops between the substrate,
pedal mucus, and foot, allowing snails to “hold on” to the substrate and avoid
dislodgement from currents or the hydrodynamic forces that attend breaking waves.

Snails have well-developed sensory systems, including sight, smell, and touch. The eyes
are located at the base of each cephalic (head) tentacle and vary in complexity from
simple pits containing photoreceptors that can detect differences in light to highly
developed structures with a cornea and lens that can form an image. In most snails, the
eyes are used primarily to detect differences in light intensity. A pair of cephalic tentacles
is used for both touch and smell.

The osphradium, in the mantle cavity, provides additional chemosensory (smell)

capability. The ability to detect and track smells is critical for many predatory and
scavenging snails to find their prey. Gas exchange takes place at the ctenidium (gill)
located in the mantle cavity. Water circulates through the mantle cavity and across the
ctenidium, where gases diffuse in and out of the blood.

The blood has a special copper containing protein called hemocyanin, similar to
hemoglobin, which binds with oxygen and transports it through the circulatory system. A
two-chambered heart pumps blood through the ctenidium and to the other tissues.

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 2

The primary feeding structure of snails is the radula, essentially a tongue covered with
rows of teeth that is scraped across a surface to tear off tissues for consumption.

Herbivorous snails use the radula to feed on algae growing on intertidal rock surfaces,
while predatory snails use it to scrape tissues from their prey. The size, shape and
morphology of the radular teeth vary within and among species and like teeth in
terrestrial mammals, are indicative of what snails eat. The radula is contained within the
proboscis, which is composed of the esophagus, buccal cavity, radula, and mouth. In
predatory snails the proboscis can be highly extensible, sometimes extending three times
the shell length.

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 3

NAME OF THE EXPERIMENT: STUDY ON COMMON SNAILS OF
VETERINARY IMPORTANCE.

SL NO NAME Acts as Intermediate Host of

1 Indoplanorbis exustus Schistosoma indicum

2 Planorbis planorbis Paramphistomum cervi

3 Bulinus africanus Cotylophoron cotylophorum

4 Lymnea auricularis Fasciola gigantica

5 Thiaria sp Paragonimus westermanii

6 Physa sp Echinostoma sp

7 Viviparus sp Opisthorchis sp

8 Bulinus sp Paramphistomum cervi

9 Bithynia sp Clonorchis sinensis

10 Pirnella sp Heterophyes heterophyes

11 Segmentina sp Fasciolopsis buski

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 4

NAME OF THE EXPERIMENT: IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFERENT
MOLLUSKS

A. Lymnea auricularia

1. The shell is dextral & overtly oblong.

2. The spire is more or less attenuated & varies considerably in height.

3. The columnar axis spiraled or twisted.

4. The shell varies in thickness & in size of the body whorl.

5. The tentacles are flattened and triangular.

6. Central tooth of redula is unicuspid.

7. The genital aperture & anus is situated on the right side.

B. Pila globosa

1. They are commonly known as “apple snails”.

2. The shell is very smooth, large & green or brown in color.

3. The spire is short & body whorl is inflated.

4. The shell is umblicate

5. The lip of aperture is simple.

6. Rapidly increasing whole present.

7. The shell is dextral.

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 5

 C. Viviparous spp

1. The shell is moderately large, imperforate or subumblicate.

2. The operculum is concentric, with a sub central nucleus.

3. The tentacles are long & slender.

4. The whorl are regularly increasing.

D. Planorbis planorbis

1. The shell is discoidal, sinistral, may be globose or physoid.

2. Pulmonary & genital aperture are situated on the left side.

3. The tentacles are long, filiform and cylindrical with eyes situated at their inner
base.

4. The redula includes a bicuspid central tooth, large or tricuspid lateral tooth and
narrow multicuspid tooth.

5. A highly vascular pseudobranch is present on the left side.

DR. Tilak Nath, Department of Parasitology, Sylhet Agricultural University. 6