Rhabdias bufonis

Name

Greek: rhabdos = stick (describes the shape of the esophagus).

Classification

Species of Nematodes.

Life Cycle

See Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Life cycle of Rhabdias bufonis. 1 This worm lives as a protandric hermaphrodite in the lung of frogs and feeds on blood. 2 Eggs are freed via lung air spaces, during which the rhabditiform larvae (L₁) hatch, are swallowed, and are passed with the feces. The filariform L₃ are developed on the soil; some of them may penetrate the skin of the frog (compare 5). 3 Other L₃ grows up to be free-living males and females (about 4 mm long). 4 After copulation, numerous larvae are formed inside the uterus; they stay inside their mother, mature to the filariform L₃ stage within 5–6 days, feed on the mother’s tissues, and are set free after the death of the female. 5 These free L₃ may penetrate the skin of the frog and mature if they reach the lung. 6 When L₃larvae enter snails, they become accumulated; snails are thus paratenic hosts which must be swallowed in...