Monday, August 5, 2013

Answer to Case 268

Answer:  Hookworm: Ancylostoma duodenale

I received some great comments on this case!
From Lukus:  "Ancycloctoma duodenale - the twin ventral plates with 2 teeth each differentiate it from A. caninum which has ventral plates with 3 teeth each.  The large worm is likely a female and the smaller a male. 1.3 mm is pretty much the top range for adult females."

Florida Fan further elaborates with "the smaller one is the typical male with its terminal copulating bursa on the left side of the picture."

Wow - extra bonus points for differentiating the male and female worms. I had only asked for the species which everyone got correct.

This indeed Ancylostoma duodenale, which has a pair of 2 vampirey teeth versus the pair of 3 as Lukus pointed out (it is one of my pet peeves when educators grab the first photo of Ancylostoma they find on their Google search and call it an A. duodenale when it's actually an A. caninum...)

Also, as both Lukus and Florida Fan point out, the male is at the bottom of the first image, which can be differentiated by its smaller size and blunt ended tail:


If you were to look at the tail under the microscope, you would see that the tail ends in multiple points:

The female, on the other hand, has a pointed tail.

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