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Life Cycle And Development Of Prosthorhynchus Formosus (Van Cleave, 1918) Travassos, 1926, An Acanthocephalan Parasite Of Birds, Gerald D. Schmidt, O. Wilford Olsen

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

The life cycle of Prosthorhynchus formosus (Van Cleave, 1918) Travassos, 1926 is presented. The terrestrial isopods Armadillidium vulgare, Porcellio laevis, and P. scaber served as experimental intermediate hosts, and chickens and turkeys as experimental definitive hosts. After ingestion of the eggs by the isopod, the acanthor emerges from its shells within 15 minutes to 2 hours, enters the gut wall of its host, and remains there 15 to 25 days. It then migrates to the hemocoel and develops through the acanthella stage to the infective cystacanth by the 60th to 65th day of infection.