Surface ultrastructure of Stictodora tridactyla (Trematoda: Heterophyidae) from Kuwait Bay

The surface morphology of Stictodora tridactyla recovered from a kitten that was fed the killifish, Aphanius dispar, naturally infected with the metacercariae was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The body comprised a rounded head, elongate neck, and widely pyriform hind-body. The head bore a circular oral sucker on the ventral side, and concentric rows of peg-like cephalic spines on the dorsal side. The oral sucker was armed with pre-oral spines similar in shape and size to the cephalic spines. The neck and hind-body were densely covered with scale-like multipointed spines, the size and density of which decreased from anterior to posterior parts of the body. Ciliated dome-shaped papillae were found solitarily or as conjugated groups on the head apex and lips of the oral sucker. Non-ciliated dome-shaped papillae were restricted to the lower lip of the oral sucker. The body was devoid of a ventral sucker. The genital opening appeared as a round depression of the tegument at about the anterior third of the body. This is the first record of the occurrence of S. tridactyla in the Arabian Gulf region and A. dispar is a new second intermediate host.