Mating behaviour of Echinostoma trivolvis and E. paraensei in concurrent infections in hamsters

Young adults of Echinostoma trivolvis and E. paraensei were recovered from hamsters previously infected with metacercarial cysts. Some worms of each species were exposed for 1 h to 3-H-tyrosine to label sperm and transplanted singly to uninfected hamsters with several unlabelled worms of the same or opposite species or both species. After 5 days, recovered worms were processed for paraffin sectioning and autoradiography. The resulting slides were observed for the location of radioactive sperm in the seminal receptacles of donor (labelled) and recipient (unlabelled) worms. When E. trivolvis was the donor with the recipient E. paraensei, self-insemination took place, but only one interspecies mating occurred out of 72 possible recipient worms. When E. paraensei served as the donor, self-insemination again occurred, but no cross-insemination was observed among the 59 E. trivolvis recipient worms. When single donor worms had a choice of either species of recipient worms, no interspecies mating took place, but both self- and cross-insemination occurred in the normal, unrestricted behaviour found in single species mating studies. Rates of both self- and cross-insemination were higher in concurrent infections of both recipient species than in single species mating studies. After transplant, both species localized in their natural habitat within the small intestine, with 1/3 overlapping in the duodenum, making interspecies mating a possibility. The correlation between mating and electrophoretic studies on the genetic relationship between 37-collar-spined echinostomes is discussed.