MITOTIC CHROMOSOMES OF SPHAEROSTOMUM-BRAMAE (MULLER, 1776) SZIDAT, 1944

Karyometrical analysis of conventional Giemsa-stained mitotic chromoso mes of parthenitae of Sphaerostomum bramae (Trematoda: Opecoelidae) wa s carried out. The karyotype displays a typical 'plagiorchiid' pattern with 22 chromosomes in a diploid set including a first pair of large metacentric elements. Chromosomes with medially or submedially located centromeres prevail in the karyotype; only chromosomes 7 and 9 are su btelocentric. With the data now available, close karyological affinity was noted between S. bramae, the representative of the family Opecoel idae, and other karyologically studied species of some families in the order Plagiorchiiformes: Troglotrematidae, Plagiorchiidae, Prosthogon imidae, Lecithodendriidae and Telorchiidae.