Molineus torulosus (Nematoda, Trichostrongylina, Molineoidea) a parasite of Neotropical primates: new morphological and histological data.

Molineus torulosus (Molin, 1861) parasite of Cebus spp. from South America is redescribed in Cebus apella and C. olivecaeus (new host) from French Guyana with emphasis on the synlophe. During the maturation process, the larvae dwelt in the cysts carved alongside the external part of the small intestine. The turn-out of the mature worms and the laid eggs depended on the tissular organisation of cyst walls as the inflammatory process waned and fibrosis progressed to seal the cystic lumen. Adult worms entwine themselves in the cysts, live there permanently as their presence has never been evidenced in the intestinal lumen. They copulated, laid eggs, degenerated and died once entrapped by the fibrotic process. Laid eggs released in the intestinal lumen through a narrow channel ensured the continuation of the developmental cycle. However, erratic migration was possible via the vascular channels surrounding the cysts.

[Biological cycle of Paralibyostrongylus hebrenicutus (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae)]. / Cycle biologique de Paralibyostrongylus hebrenicutus (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae).

Paralibyostrongylus hebrenicutus accomplishes its life cycle spontaneously in captive Atherurus africanus, its natural host, and in experimentally infected guinea pigs and rabbits. Morphogenesis and larval morphology were studied in the guinea pig and described herein. Host infection were achieved either by subcutaneous or by oral inoculation. The entsheathed infective larvae moult soon after penetration in the vertebrate host. Following subcutaneous inoculation, they reach the lungs very probably through the lymphatic vessels and the right heart at H8, and the stomach as soon as D2. However, a possible direct migration by the mesenteric lymphatic vessels and crossing of the digestive wall cannot be excluded as a few larvae were found in the peristomachal mesentery. Following ingestion, L3 larvae reached the stomach directly. 24 hours post-ingestion, they were localized deep inside the gastric mucosa crypts lumen. The same larval localization was observed at D3 after a subcutaneous inoculation. At D5, regardless of the inoculation route, larvae reached their definitive position, embedded in the gastric mucosa mucus lining, where they underwent the 3rd moulting (L3-L4) followed by the 4th moulting (L4-Ad) at D19. Eggs appeared at D28. Except for the inflammatory granuloma seen in the lungs and the mesentery from H24 to D3, the nematode induced no tissue lesion. The genus Paralibyostrongylus is one of the most primitive in the Libyostrongylinae-Cooperiinae line. The double transmission route, may have made possible the transition from primitive cycles by cutaneous penetration to more specialized cycles by the oral route, the latter being responsible for the evolutionary success of the group in large herbivores.