REDESCRIPTION OF CERCARIA NIPPONENSISFAUST, 1924, A XIPHIDIOCERCARIA IN SNAIL HOST SEMISULCOSPIRA SPP. IN JAPAN

Abstract

This cercaria was observed by several Japanese workers referring to the study on lung fluke. Cercaria “hei” from Semisulcospira libertina in Gifu Prefecture described by Ando (1951) was the first report. Nakagawa (1915) described this as Cercaria XII from the same snail host in Shinchiku Province, Formosa. He had, at first, considered it as a cercaria of lung fluke, but later on correction was made by himself. Cercaria C described by Kobayashi (1917) from Korea and several areas of Japan and Cercaria C described by Yoshida (1917) from several areas of Japan are also identified with this species. Later, in his review of Japanese cercariae, Kobayashi (1922) characterized this cercaria as Xiphidiocercaria A, while Faust (1924) named it Cercaria nipponensis. Later, Yokogawa and Wakeshima (1934) described it from Formosa as Cercaria VI, Fukui and Shimizu (1936) reported it from Japan as Cercaria V. However, the description of this species by respective authors has yet been very incomplete. The writer recently obtained a large number of this cercaria from several areas in Japan which enabled him to examine its morphology in detail. The following is the redescription of the morphology of this cercaria.