Miracidium of Schistosoma

The following account deals with the morphology and anatomy of the miracidium of Schistosoma species which infect humans and will chiefly be limited to electron microscopy. Host-finding and related phenomena are covered in Section 6.9. The most detailed morphological study is that of Pan (1980), for S. mansoni, from which this account, with that of Eklu-Natey et al. (1985), for four species, is largely drawn. There are other studies which refer to the morphology of the miracidium of S. mansoni (e.g., Faust and Hoffman 1934; Gordon et al. 1934, with S. haematobium; Watanabe 1934; Porter 1938; Olivier and Mao 1949; Ottolina 1957; Kinoti 1971; Brooker 1972; Basch and Diconza 1974; Schutte 1974; Wikel and Bogitsh 1974; Koie and Frandsen 1976; Ebrahimzadeh 1977; Meuleman et al. 1978; Bogitsh and Carter 1982; Dunn and Yoshino 1988; Neill et al. 1988; Swiderski 1994; Araque et al. 2003; Elkerdany 2003 and Collins et al. 2011). The miracidium of S. japonicum was briefly described by Tang (1938) and received detailed attention by Faust and Meleney (1924) and by Ozaki (1952) who described the epidermal plates (see early references therein). The miracidia of S. japonicum and of S. haematobium were examined by Loverde (1975), that of S. haematobium having been described earlier by Faust (1929), as figured in Chandler and Read (1961). Jones et al. (2008) have described the ultrastructure of the developing miracidium of S. japonicum before and shortly after hatching (see also Jones et al., Chapter 5). Several books also refer briefly to S. mansoni miracidial structure (e.g., Faust 1929; Wright 1971; Rollinson and Simpson 1987; Basch 1991; Jordan et al. 1993; Marty and Andersen 1995; Mahmoud 2001; Secor and Colley 2005; Brehm and Lueder 2009; Bogitsh et al. 2013). That of S. bovis is treated by Lengy (1962) (Fig. 6.15). The general anatomy of the miracidium of Schistosoma mansoni is illustrated in Figure 6.1. The ultrastructure of the miracidium of S. japonicum within the egg is well illustrated by Jones et al., Chapter 5