Dr. Murai Éva - Gubányi András szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 29-30. (Budapest, 1997)

© Hungarian Natural History Museum Hungarian Society of Parasitologists Parasit, hung., 29-30: 33-38, 1996-1997 Occurrence of the adult and plerocercus forms of Paradilepis scolecina (Rudolph., 1819) (Cestoda: Dilepididae) in Lake Balaton, Hungary Éva MURAI

1

, Kálmán MOLNÁR

2 and András GUBÁNYl

1 1

Zoological Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H—

1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary; ^Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1143 Budapest, Hungária krt. 21, Hungary (Received 12 January, 1997) Abstract: Paradilepis scolecina is a common cestode parasite in the gut of the cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in Hungary. Plerocercus larvae of P. scolecina were found attached to the serous membranes of the gut and the gall bladder of the bream (Abramis brama) in Lake Balaton. Plerocerci were located within a capsule composed of one layer of host and two layers of parasite origin. Keywords: Cestode, Paradilepis scolecina, adult stages in cormorant, plerocercus stages in bream, histology of the plerocercus. INTRODUCTION To date, relatively few papers have been published on the cestode fauna of aquatic birds indigenous in Hungary (Murai etal. 1983, Murai et al. 1985), while data on tapeworms parasitic in the cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) have been reported only by Murai et al. (1983) and Murai (1991, personal communication) on the basis of the collection held by the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. At the same time, several studies have been published on that subject in the neighbouring countries, first of all in Poland and Russia (Korpaczewska 1963, Dubinina et al. 1987, Czaplinski et al. 1992). As regards the parasitic infections of fish, Lake Balaton is the best studied water area of Hungary. Information on the parasite fauna of Lake Balaton fishes was first published by Rátz ( 1897) and subsequently complemented by further data reported by Molnár ( 1962), Matskási (1967, 1968), Mészáros (1967, 1968) and Matskási et al. (1971). Data on the cestode fauna can be found in the publications of Molnár (1970). Despite the large number of publications, Molnár and Székely (1995) recorded the occurrence of further parasites including the larval stages of Paradilepis scolecina. P. scolecina (Rudolphi, 1819) is a specific parasite of the cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). The procercoid forms develop in cyclops intermediate hosts while the plerocercus stages in cyprinids and less frequently in other fish species. The parasite is widespread all over the world. According to Bona (1975), Scholz (1989) and Czaolinski et al. (1992), this