Leucochloridium variae
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| Leucochloridium variae | ||||||||||||||
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| Leucochloridium variae McIntosh, 1932 |
Leucochloridium variae is a parasite that invades snails and makes their eye stalks swollen, pulsating and colourful. This maggot-resembling feature attracts birds. The bird rips off the eye stalk and eats it and the parasites egg is later dropped with the bird's feces. Similar life-histories are found in most species in the genus including Leucochloridium paradoxum.
The snail will regenerate a new eye stalk which also becomes infected by the parasite.
[edit] References
Bakke, Tor A. (1982) The Morphology and Taxonomy of Leucochloridium (L.) variae Mclntosh (Digenea, Leucochloridiidae) from the Nearctic as Revealed by Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Zoologica Scripta 11(2):87–100 doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.1982.tb00521.x
[edit] External links
- A parasite for sore eyes - Article in the Daily Mirror
- Video on You Tube
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