LARVAL TREMATODES AND THEIR SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN SNAILS OF MANIPUR

A total of 2.066 snails belonging to species namely, Indoplanorbis exustus, Gyraulus convexiusculus, Lymnaea luteola, Melanoid Striatella tuberculata, livipara bengalensis and Pila globosa were examined for the detection of larval trematodes. Three groups of larval trematodes viz. Amphistome, Gymnocephalous and Echinostome were found from the snails studied. Among the snail species, the highest percentage of larval trematodes was observed in Lynnaea luteola (34.0%) while the lowest was in livipara bengalensis (8.3%). Whereas in Pila globosa no larval trematodes could be recorded. Amphistome cercaria (11.7%) had the highest prevalent rate in the snail population studied while the lowest was recorded for Gymnocephalous type of cercaria (3.1%). Overall prevalence of larval trematodes was highest in rainy season (24.5%) while the lowest was in winter season (5.2%).