Aquatic Parasite Observatory

Cephalogonimus spp.

• Species Name: Cephalogonimus spp.
• Synonyms: Prosthogonimus (Pande 1932)
• Taxonomy: Animalia, Platyhelminthes, Trematoda, Plagiorchiida, Cephalogonimidae, Cephalogonimus spp.
• Life Cycle: "The life cycle of some species of Cephalogonimus have been experimentally determined to infect Helisoma snails as a first intermediate host, amphibians as a secondary host, and amphibians as the definitive host through consumption of secondary host" (Lang, 1968; Dronen and Lang, 1974).
• Description:
• Adult as described by Bray et al., 2008:
  2. Body elongate-oval, usually medium-sized (5 mm long or less); extremities usually rounded. Tegument armed; spines more numerous anteriorly than posteriorly. Circumoral spines absent. Oral sucker equal to or slightly larger or smaller than ventral sucker. Ventral sucker in anterior half of body… Intestinal bifurcation far anterior to ventral sucker… Ovary entire, rounded or oval, submedian and usually obliquely anterior to anterior testis, posterolateral or occasionally almost lateral to ventral sucker... Excretory vesicle Y-shaped with additional lateral branches (rarely reported as vesicular); pore terminal or subterminal.
• Sources: Bray, R.A., Gibson D.I., and Jones, A. 2008. Keys to the Trematoda, Volume 3. p. 335.
• Lang, B.Z. 1968. The Life Cycle of Cephalogonimus americanus Stafford, 1902 (Trematoda: Cephalogonimidae). The Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 54, No. 5, p. 945-949.

  Dronen Jr., N.O. and Lang, B.Z. 1974. The Life Cycle of Cephalogonimus salamandrus sp. n. (Digenea: Cephalogonimidae) from Ambystoma tigrinum (Green) from Eastern Washington. The Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 60, No. 1, p. 75-79.

• APO Parasite Records: (by Life Cycle)
• Metacercaria

  1. Host Species	Host Common Name	Site(s) of Infection
     Rana catesbeiana	American bullfrog	Skin, connective tissue, mesentary, muscle
     Pseudacris regilla	Pacific chorus frog	Skin, connective tissue, muscle, esophagus, mesentary
     Anaxyrus boreas	Western toad	Skin, connective tissue, mesentary, muscle
     Taricha granulosa	Rough-skinned newt	Skin, connective tissue, mesentary, muscle
     Taricha torosa	California newt	Skin, connective tissue, mesentary, muscle