Studies on the Gapeworm Syngamus trachea (Montagu, 1811) in Robins and Chickens

On the Systematics of Syngamus trachea (Montagu, 1811) Chapin, 1925

“…Manter and Pinto (1928), in describing Syngatnus tenuispiculutn from Turdus migratorius suggested in a foot-note that their species might be identical with Syngatnus trachea. This suggestion was adopted by Manter's pupil Ripple (1941), but Goble and Kutz (1945) doubted this determination and considered the species to be identical with S. merulae Baylis, 1926. The main characters on which these species had been separated were divergent measurements of various organs of the body, differences in the lengths of the spicules and variations in the branching of the bursal rays. Lewis (1928), in a very important paper, showed the astonishing variability of just those characters, which have been considered systematically important.…”

Taxonomic status of Syngamus nematodes parasitizing passeriform hosts from Central Europe: Morphological, morphometric and molecular identification

“…In all available descriptions of S. merulae, this collar is almost always described as absent [6,11,19,21,28,29,46]. Only Walker [47] and Ripple [30] mentioned the presence of the characteristic collar in nematodes collected from "robins" [47] and T. migratorius [30]. However, none of the data presented by these authors are fully reliable: Walker [47] published his works decades before description of S. merulae, moreover, Goble and Kutz [21], in reanalyzing original material investigated by Ripple [30], observed nematodes without collar, and indisputably recognized nematode specimens identified previously by Ripple [30] Independent of the issue of definition and structure of the genus Syngamus, several related problems regarding species delimitation have been widely discussed (see Introduction and references therein).…”

“…Only Walker [47] and Ripple [30] mentioned the presence of the characteristic collar in nematodes collected from "robins" [47] and T. migratorius [30]. However, none of the data presented by these authors are fully reliable: Walker [47] published his works decades before description of S. merulae, moreover, Goble and Kutz [21], in reanalyzing original material investigated by Ripple [30], observed nematodes without collar, and indisputably recognized nematode specimens identified previously by Ripple [30] Independent of the issue of definition and structure of the genus Syngamus, several related problems regarding species delimitation have been widely discussed (see Introduction and references therein). It is characteristic that important morphological and morphometric features with taxonomical significance (e.g., spiculae length, structure of copulatory bursa) and the spectrum of definitive hosts species, treated as differentiating criteria within Syngamus, can be included in the range of variability observed in S. trachea (see Introduction and references therein).…”

“…However, Zavadil [46] described two findings of S. merulae in chicken, Baruš [29,30,47], but other failed [28].…”

Susceptibility of chickens to the nematodes, Syngamus trachea and S merulae

“…This resistance appears to be greater in hosts immunized when 14 days old than in hosts immunized when 1 day old. Clapham, 1934Taylor, 1938* Barus, 1965Clapham, 1934 El Refaii, 196O Ripple, 1941Clapham, 1939cClapham, 1939cClapham, 1939cClapham, 1939bTaylor, 1935** Taylor, 1938 El Refaii, i960 Barus, 1964a Barus, 1964a ^Earthworms were infective for 4 years 4-1/2 months. **Snails were infective for 1 year 1-1/2 months.…”