Onchocerca gibsoni : the cause of worm nodules in Australian cattle / by J.A. Gilruth and Georgina Sweet ; with notes on worm nests in Australian cattle and in camels (extracts from Report of Government Bureau of Microbiology of New South Wales for 1909) / by J. Burton Cleleand and T. Harvey Johnston.

  • Gilruth, J. A.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Onchocerca gibsoni : the cause of worm nodules in Australian cattle / by J.A. Gilruth and Georgina Sweet ; with notes on worm nests in Australian cattle and in camels (extracts from Report of Government Bureau of Microbiology of New South Wales for 1909) / by J. Burton Cleleand and T. Harvey Johnston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    animal. Filaria volvulus, Leuckt., is also brought into this genus. A fragment of a female nematode taken from a worm nest from the subcutaneous tissues of the head of a dromedary in the Punjab, by A. S. Leese, is described as belonging to a new species, 0. fasciata. The only information given con- cerning it is that the breadth is from 403 to 475a, and that the cuticle possesses feebly undulating ridges repeated at every three or four striae. We have compared the Onchocerca (females) taken from the West Australian dromedaries, with that from local cattle, and notice that in the former the ridges are closer, lower, and less pronounced than in the latter. Besides this, transverse striae are present. The diameter of the female body in most of the segments examined was about the same in each case, namely, from 180 to 400/T, more usually approximating the latter figure. We are able then to record the finding of at least two species of Onchocerca in Australia, viz., 0. gibsoni in cattle, and 0. fasciata in camels. During the past few days we have received the “ Annual Report of the Veterinary Officer investigating Camel Diseases for the year ending 31 March, 1910,” by A. S. Leese, who, on page 13, mentions the finding of 0. fasciata fairly commonly, coiled up in nodules in the subcutaneous tissues. He goes on to say that the parasite dees not cause any perceptible harm to its host. We might add that the first reference to the presence of this nematode (at that time unidentified) appears to have been made in 1909 by one of us, who found them in 1907 in dromedaries recently imported into West Australia from India (Cleland, Bull. 34, Dept. Agric., West Australia, 1909, p. 8). Explanation of Plate. Onchocerca gibsoni, Cleland and Johnston. Fig. 1. Anterior end of female. Fig. 2. Portion of body of female, showing pattern on cuticle. A few longitudinal striae are also represented. Fig. 3. Posterior end of male. Fig. 4. Embryo in shell (drawn from a smear preparation). All the above sketches were made with the aid of a camera lucida. Nos. 1 and 2 are equally magnified. References to lettering:—b. w., body wall (dermis and muscle); a, anus; a.e., anus of embryo; cu., cuticle; cu.r., cuticular ridges; emb.sh., embryonal shell; int., intestine; l.str., longitudinal stria;; m. , mouth; m.m., muscles attached to spicule; n.r., nerve ring; n. r.e., nerve ring of embryo; o.e., oesophagus of embryo; oes., ^esophagus; pi, caudal papilla; p2ps> post-anal papillae; pit four peri-anal papillae; r.e., rings on cuticle of embryo; sp.,, sp.-<, (dotted) spicules of male; ut., uterus (main trunk); ut.]t ut. 2, uterine branches; v., vulva; vg., vagina. E