OBJECTIVETo observe three species of Kalicephalus found in three species of snake (Ophiophagus hannah, Ptyas mucosus, and Naja Sputatrix) during research on Capture Snake for Trading in Java and Snake Biodiversity in Kalimantan Islands.

METHODSSpecimens for light microscopy examination were fixed with warm 70% alcohol, cleared and mounted in lactophenol for wet mounting. Drawings were made with the aid of a drawing tube attached to a Nikon compound microscope. Measurements were given in micrometers (µ) as the average of findings, followed by the range in parentheses, unless otherwise stated.

RESULTSKalicephalus (Costatus) indicus was found from 7 Ptyas mucosus, Kalicephalus bungari from 2 Naja sputatrix and 1 Kalicephalus (Costatus) indicus and Kalicephalus assimilis found from 1 Ophiophagus hannah. The morphology and measurement of three species of Kalicephalus found in this study were close to those described before.

CONCLUSIONSNew finding of host of Kalicephalus (Costatus) indicus and Kalicephalus bungari was a snake species of Naja sputatrix. New records of locality were Kalimantan island as the new locality of Kalicephalus assimilis, and Java island was new locality of Kalicephalus (Costatus) indicus.

Ancylostomatoidea ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development ; isolation & purification ; physiology ; Animal Structures ; anatomy & histology ; Animals ; Body Size ; Colubridae ; parasitology ; Elapidae ; parasitology ; Host Specificity ; Indonesia ; Intestines ; parasitology ; Male

A total of 205 larval gnathostomes were collected from 18 (22.5%) of 80 red banded odd-tooth snakes, Dinodon rufozonatum rufozonatum, which had been smuggled from China and confiscated at Customs in Busan, Republic of Korea. In order to identify the species, some of the larvae were observed by a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The larvae were 2.18 x 0.29 mm in average size, and had a pair of lips at the anterior end, a muscular esophagus, 2 pairs of cervical sacs, and brownish intestines. The head bulb was characteristically equipped with 4 rows of hooklets; the average number of hooklets in each respective row was 38.6, 40.5, 41.5, and 43.7. In SEM views, the mouth evidenced a pair of lateral lips of equal size in a half-moon shape. Each lip featured a couple of labial papillae and a small amphid located between the 2 papillae. The hooklets on the head bulb had single-pointed, posteriorly-curved tips. The cuticular spines were larger and more densely distributed on the anterior part of the body, and decreased gradually in size and number toward the posterior body. On the basis of these morphological characteristics, the larvae were identified as the third stage larvae of Gnathostoma hispidum.
Animals ; China ; Colubridae/*parasitology ; Gnathostoma/*isolation & purification/pathogenicity/*ultrastructure ; Larva/ultrastructure ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning/veterinary ; Muscles/parasitology ; Species Specificity ; Spirurida Infections/parasitology/*veterinary

The phylogenetic relationships of the 3 Neodiplostomum spp. (Digenea: Neodiplostomidae) occurring in Korea (N. seoulense, N. leei, and N. boryongense) were analyzed using the partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene. The adult flukes were recovered from Sprague-Dawley rats (N. seoulense) and newborn chicks (N. leei and N. boryongense) experimentally infected with the neodiplostomula from the grass snake, Rhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus. The genomic DNA was amplified using specific primers, and the sequence of CO1 was obtained. According to the results, the pairwise similarity was 96.1% between N. boryongense and N. seoulense, but was 95.0% between N. boryongense and N. leei and 94.2% between N. leei and N. seoulense. The results demonstrated a closer phylogenetic relationship between N. seoulense and N. boryongense. This high relationship of N. seoulense and N. boryongense may be related to their similar morphologic features including the limited distribution of vitellaria and the presence of a genital cone. N. leei is distinct on the other hand with an extensive distribution of vitellaria and the absence of a genital cone.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Chickens ; Cluster Analysis ; Colubridae/*parasitology ; DNA, Helminth/chemistry/genetics ; Electron Transport Complex IV/*genetics ; Female ; Korea ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Trematoda/*classification/*genetics