LIGHT, TRANSMISSION AND SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE OBSERVATION OF BODY SPINES OF PHILOPHTHALMUS-LUCIPETUS (TREMATODA) DURING MATURATION IN THE EYE CAVITY OF BIRDS

Light (LM), transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the topography and morphology of the body spines of P. lucipetus during maturation of one-day-old preadults to 120-day-ol d adults. Observations with LM showed long and thin spine-like formati ons, which can be clearly seen in young specimens of 10-days-old, and which are missing in most of the older parasites. Using TEM and SEM th e spine-like formations were found not to be true spines, but belong t o the soft tissues of the tegument - the distal cytoplasm. Observed wi th SEM, the tegument showed papilla-like structures which, in the ante rior part of the body were different in form, size and distribution pa ttern from those in the posterior part. The body spines of the eye flu ke P. lucipetus are different from the real spines of the parasites li ving in the host intestine.