The ecological aspect of the study of the intestinal ultrastructure of nematodes

Summary

The authors studied the ultrastructure of the intestinal cells of several nematodes which are taxonomically and ecologically considerably distant (the non-parasitic, saprophytic Eudorylaimus obtusicaudatus, the enterohelminth Ascaridia galli, helminth of the respiratory tract Dictyocaulus filaria and the pneumohelminth Müllerius capillaris). On the basis of the ecological aspects they try to explain the differences found by the construction of the apical ends of the intestinal cells of the nematodes under study and the unusual arrangement and localization of the single organoids by the intestinal cells of Dictyocaulus filaria The authors emphasize the determining importance of ecological factors at the morphogenesis of the structures described and call attention to some ecomorphological laws ruling the differences of the fine structure of different kinds of helminths.