Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Levinseniella deblocki

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Trematoda

Family
  
Microphallidae

Scientific name
  
Levinseniella deblocki

Phylum
  
Platyhelminthes

Order
  
Plagiorchiida

Genus
  
Levinseniella

Rank
  
Species

Similar
  
Microphallus, Profilicollis, Cyrtograpsus angulatus, Ascocotyle pindoramensis, Echinostomatidae

Levinseniella deblocki is a parasitic fluke that occurs in salt marshes along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Its life cycle includes a metacercarial stage in the gonads of fiddler crabs (Uca) and one intermediate host is a gastropod from the genus Heleobops (family Hydrobiidae). Adults are found in the digestive tracts of marsh rice rats (Oryzomys palustris), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and clapper rails (Rallus crepitans). Within the subgenus Austromicrophallus, L. deblocki is most similar to the European L. polydactyla and the Californian L. ophidea, but differs in size, ecology, and morphology.

Literature cited

  • Heard, R.W. and Kinsella, J.M. 1995. Levinseniella deblocki, new species (Trematoda: Digenea: Microphallidae) from salt marshes along the eastern Gulf of Mexico with notes on its functional morphology and life history (abstract only). Gulf Research Reports 9(2):97–103.
  • References

    Levinseniella deblocki Wikipedia