A Systematic Study of the Trematode Subfamily Plagiorchiinae Pratt, 1902

Host-parasite relationships of an avian trematode, Plagiorchis noblei Park, 1936

“…Flukes eight days old from an experimentally infected ringnecked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) were the smallest recovered during this study, these specimens measuring only Length of esophagus Olsen (1937) frequently used the presence or absence of the esophagus as one of many criteria in distinguishing plagiorchiid species. In whole mounts of nearly all specimens recovered from experimentally infected hosts during this study, the esophagus was visible.…”

“…Species belonging to the former possess vitelline follicles forming a distinct commissure anterior to the acetabulum; those belonging to the subgenus Plagiorchis lack this commissure. Although Olsen (1937), Rees (1952) and Skrjabin and Antipin (1959) accepted these subgenera, Odening (1959) questioned their validity. He observed variations in the extent of vitelline follicles of adult 2" cirratus recovered from mice of various ages and from chickens.…”

“…Numerous revisions of the genus and systematic studies of the family Plagiorchlidae have appeared, including those by Massino (1929), Mehra (1931), McMullen (1937a), Olsen (1937), Federova (1954), Morozov (1955), Bykhovskaia-Pavlovskaia (1956), Styczynska-Jurewicz (1962) and Tiraofeeva (1962).…”

“…Because Liihe (1909) included the absence of a seminal receptacle as one of the characters of the genus Plagiorchis, Olsen (1937) transferred P. noblei Park, 1936 to his new genus Plagiorchoides, also in the subfamily Plagiorchiinae. Park (1939) and Tubangui (1946) accepted Olsen's classifica tion and described Plagiorchoides rhinolophi and Plagiorchoides potaminides, respectively.…”

“…In a systematic study of the subfamily Plagiorchiinae, Olsen (1937) included a key to subgenera, and to 49 species and subspecies of Plagiorchis. The following criteria were I used: position and shape of testes, position and size of ovary relative to the acetabulum, size of pharynx, presence or absence of esophagus, extent of cirrus pouch, extent and distribution of viteliaria and extent of uterine coils.…”