Taxonomic status

Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Nematoda
Class : Secernentea
Order : Strongylida
Family : Trichostrongylidae
Genus : Haemonchus
Species : H. contortus
• A group of this sort is called a taxon, and the study of this aspect of biology is
called taxonomy.
• The study of the complex systems of interrelationship between living organisms is
called systematics.
Helminthology
• 75,000 and 300,000 species
• Affecting humans, animals and plants
• Major
• Nematoda (roundworms)
• Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
° Trematoda (Flukes)
° Cestoda (Tapeworms)
• Minor
• Acanthocephala (thorny-headed worms)

• The nematodes (Nematoda) are commonly called roundworms from their appearance in
cross-section
Structure and function
• Have a cylindrical unsegmented form, tapering at either end
• Body is covered by a colourless, somewhat translucent, layer: the cuticle
(secreted by hypodermis)
• The muscle cells, arranged longitudinally, lie between the hypodermis and the
body cavity
• The latter contains fluid at a high pressure, which maintains the turgidity and
shape of the body (pseudocoelom)
• Most of the internal organs are filamentous and suspended in the fluid-filled body
cavity
• Locomotion is effected by undulating waves of muscle contraction and relaxation
that alternate on the dorsal and ventral aspects of the worm
Digestive system
• The digestive system is tubular
• The mouth, or stoma: either lips or buccal capsule (blades or teeth)
• The oesophagus is usually muscular
• The intestine is a simple tube descending from oesophagus
• In female worms the intestine terminates in an anus
• In males there is a cloaca which functions as an anus
Reproductive system
• Consist of filamentous tubes, which float in the body cavity
• The female organs comprise ovary, oviduct and uterus, ending in a common short
vagina, which opens at the vulva
• A vulval flap may also be present
• Nematodes can be oviparous, ovoviviparous or viviparous
• The male organs consist of a single continuous testis and a vas deferens
terminating in a muscular ejaculatory duct into the cloaca
• Accessory male organs: spicules and gubernaculum
• The spicules: used during copulation
• The gubernaculum: acts as a guide for the spicules.
Cuticular modification
• Leaf crowns: rows of papillae occurring as fringes round the rim of buccal
capsule
• Cervical papillae (oesophageal region) and caudal papillae (at the tail)
• Cervical and caudal alae are flattened wing-like expansions of the cuticle
• Cephalic and cervical vesicles are inflations of the cuticle
• The copulatory bursa, which embraces the female during copulation
Egg
Hatching
Larval migration
• 2 types
1. Visceral larval migration
2. Cutaneous larval migration
Hepatic–tracheal route:
Intestine
portal system
Liver
hepatic vein and posterior vena cava
Heart
the pulmonary artery
Lungs, bronchi trachea oesophagus intestine
Notes
PPP (prepatent period): The time from infection until mature adult parasites are
producing eggs or larvae.
Hypobiosis: Temporary cessation in development of a nematode at a precise point
in its parasitic development.
• L3 stage in Trichostrongylus and Ancylostoma,
• L4 stage in Ostertagia and Haemonchus
• immature adults in Dictyocaulus.
Periparturient rise (PPR): It refers to an increase in the numbers of
nematode eggs in the faeces of animals around parturition.
1. Maturation of larvae arrested due to host immunity.
2 Infections acquired from the pastures
3 An increased fecundity of existing adult worm populations