Interactions
Stagnicola emarginata are the hosts for
many parasites in their habitat. Many of these parasites
are of the class Trematoda and use the snail as an intermediate
host for their life cycle (Global
species 2011). An intermediate host is where a
parasite will develop but no sexual reproduction or maturation
of the parasite will develop (Hickman
et al. 2009).
An example of a trematode that parasitizes the Stagnicola
is:
The duck fluke
(Encyclopedia of life), or
Cotylurus flabelliformis
(Global species 2011), is a
parasite to the St. Lawrence pondsnail. The duck fluke
infects the snail as a host to it's multistep life cycle.
The life cycle of the duck fluke occurs as follows:
-The eggs of the duck fluke are
deposited into the water and hatch within about 3 weeks
-They then infect the snails of the
the family Lymnaeidae
-The generations that infect the
snails of the sporocysts and the cercariae, repectively
-The cercariae move from the first
snail host to a second snail host
-Other animals become infected by the
duck fluke when the snails shed the cercaria and infect the
other snails in the pond. The snails are then eaten by
other animals and become infected as well
(Quizlet LLC. 2011)
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