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Larval trematodes in freshwater molluscs from the Elbe to Danube rivers (Southeast Germany): before and today

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Abstract

Studies on life cycles of trematodes have a long tradition in Germany; (Odening 1978) listed a total of 177 trematodes, which can potentially complete their life cycles in German inland waters. However, almost no recent data on the occurrence of larval stages in molluscs are available. Therefore, a survey of trematodes in Southeast Germany was carried out in 2004. A total of 31 species of ten families (29 species of cercariae, seven species of metacercariae, and five species found of both) were found in 311 (4.9%) molluscs of 15 species. The dominant cercariae were Plagiorchis elegans, Echinoparyphium aconiatum, Opisthioglyphe ranae, and Diplostomum pseudospathaceum. Echinoparyphium pseudorecurvatum is reported, for the first time, under its valid scientific name from Germany. In previous studies from the same region, 88 species of cercariae of 16 families were found in 19 species of molluscs (52 cercariae with valid names and 36 not identified to species level). It is proposed that there is still a very similar spectrum of the most common species of cercariae typical for Central Europe as found 20, but also 100–150 years ago.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to the members of the laboratory of the Department of Parasitology of the University Erlangen-Nuremberg for helping with the mollusc sampling and their processing; to Irena Šetlíková for helping with the sampling; to Tomáš Scholz, Zdeněk Fric, and an anonymous referee for their valuable comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (project no. IAA6022404), the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (project no. 524/03/H133), and the research projects of the Institute of Parasitology, AS CR (Z60220518 and LC522).

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  1. Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia and Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, 370 05, Czech Republic

    Anna Faltýnková

  2. Institute for Zoology I, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstrasse 5, Erlangen, 91058, Germany

    Wilfried Haas

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  1. Anna Faltýnková
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Correspondence to Anna Faltýnková.

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Faltýnková, A., Haas, W. Larval trematodes in freshwater molluscs from the Elbe to Danube rivers (Southeast Germany): before and today. Parasitol Res 99, 572–582 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0197-9

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