Incomplete Development of Hymenolepis diminuta Ova in Tribolium confusum Beetles

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project is to confirm if rupture of the rat tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta ova oncosphere is required for continued hatching and development to the cysticercoid stage within its host Tribolium confusum beetles, and a possible mechanism for doing so. A 1973 paper had noted a singular case of large numbers of undeveloped ova containing fully intact ova in the haemocoel of a dissected beetle with a broken tooth on its mandible. My goal is to find out if cutting a Tribolium confusum beetle#s mandible tooth will affect the hatching of ova inside the beetles. Methods/Materials To confirm this, I basically cut or damaged one mandible tooth on 50 Tribolium confusum beetles and fed them Hymenolepis diminuta ova. For comparison I also maintained 50 additional beetles that were fed ova but not treated, and a large culture stock of beetles uninfected. After 20 days I dissected all inoculated beetles and checked for cysticercoids. Results My results indicated 38 out of 50 beetles without mandible clipping developed cysticercoids, 6 beetles did not, and 6 beetles died. The test group with mandible clippings 9 out of 50 developed cysticercoids, 27 beetles did not, and 14 beetles died. Examination of beetle mandibles with cysticercoids suggested the mandible tooth clipping may not have been adequate. Conclusions/Discussion I concluded that cutting the mandible left undeveloped, intact tapeworm ova and did not allow for hatching supporting my hypothesis.

Competition history

• CSEF 2014 Zoology · Entry J2218

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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