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On the Correlation of the Life-history of the Acephaline Gregarine, Gonospora, with the Sexual Cycle of its Host1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

C. C. Hentschel
C. C. Hentschel
Affiliation:
(From the Zoological Laboratory, University of London, King's College.)
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Extract

The acephaline gregarine, Gonospora varia Léger, from the coelomic cavity of the Polychaete worm Audouinia (Cirratulus) tentaculatus (Montagu) exhibits an interesting phenomenon, in which the life-history of the parasite is closely bound up with the sexual cycle of the host. It is characteristic of the acephaline gregarines that they are, for the most part, inhabitants of the coelom, and, as a consequence, frequently live in very close association with, if not actually parasitic on, the reproductive cells themselves. The familiar Monocystis from the seminal vesicles of the earthworm is an example which is at once called to mind. So, in the case of gregarines such as Gonospora, it is a common feature for them to spend the greater part of their existence free in the body cavity among the host's genital products. Naturally, they are reliant on the host's method of expulsion of the ova or spermatozoa for the dispersal of their spores. We therefore find that the periodic annual spawning of the worm is accompanied by a corresponding periodicity in the life-history of the parasites, which probably results in the reproductive bodies of both parasites and host being expelled together. In this point there seems to be a somewhat greater degree of specialisation than in Monocystis, where it is generally accepted that the spores are shed only on the death of the earthworm, either naturally or as the prey of some bird.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 1926 , pp. 137 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1926

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