Identification of African Paragonimidae by multivariate analysis of the eggs

A study of metacercariae and adult Paragonimidae revealed the existence in West-Africa of four species, of which two are largely recorded in literatur e (Paragonimus africanus and Paragonimus uterobilateralis), one was suspect ed (Paragonimus, westermani-like) and one remained unrecorded in Africa (Eu paragonimus sp). Among the two last ones, P. westermani-like was probably c onfused with P. africanus, and Euparagonimus sp. with P. uterobilateralis. P. westermani-like adult worms differed from P. africanus by the morphology of ovary, testes and the size of the metraterm eggs. Euparagonimus could b e identified by a short excretory bladder in metacercariae. The discriminan t functions established on eggs measurements (average, maximum and minimum length, average, maximum and minimum width) were able to separate the isola tes into four groups. The largest eggs (97 x 59 mu m) belonged to P. wester mani-like, the medium sized eggs were ascribed to P. africanus (91 x 49 mu m) and to Euparagonimus sp. (84 x 50 mu m), and the smaller eggs (69 x 42 m u m) were identified as P. uterobilateralis. Three Paragonimidae were ident ified in Cameroon: P. westermani-like, P. africanus and Euparagonimus sp. A dditionally, P. uterobilateralis, P. westermani-like, and Euparagonimus sp. were found in the Congo, Gabon, and the Ivory Coast, respectively. (C) 199 9 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.