Brevimulticaecum		Contents		Rev 05/28/2025
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Brevimulticaecum menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Heterocheilidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea

       Spiruria

         Ascaridida

          Ascaridoidea

               Heterocheilidae

                          Brevimulticaecum Mozgovoy, 1951

The ascaridoid genus Multicaecum was established by Baylis (1923) to accommodate M. agile (Wedl, 1861) from Crocodylus niloticus  in the White Nile, Egypt.  Mozgovoy (1951) divided the genus into two subgenera, subgenus Multicaecum, with tooth-like dentigerous ridges on the lips, long ventricular appendices, vulva anterior to middle of body, and Brevimulticaecum without dentigerous ridges, ventricular appendices reduced, and vulva usually posterior to middle of body.  Later, Sprent (1979) raised Brevimulticaecum to full generic status. Both Brevimulticaecum and Multicaecum contain species mainly parasitizing crocodiles, caimans and alligators.

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Morphology and Anatomy:

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Distribution:

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Economic Importance:

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Hosts:

Most species of the genus are intestinal parasites of crocodilians. The first species parasitizing fishes was described from the african osteoglossiform Heterotis niloticus in Senegal as Multicaecum heterotis by Petter et al. (1979). That species was subsequently transferred to Brevimulticaecum by Khalil (1984) and then back to Multicaecum following more intensive study by Malova et al (2010).

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Feeding:

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Life Cycle

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Damage:

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Management:

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References:

Khalil, L.F.. 1984: Brevimulticaecum scleropagi sp. nov. (Ascarididae: Nematoda) from the fish Scleropages jardini in Papua New Guinea. J. Nat. History 18:797-802.

Malova, S., Moravec, F., Barus, V., Seifertova, M. 2010. Redescription, systematic status and molecular characterisation of Multicaecum heterotis Petter, Vassiliadès et Marchand, 1979 (Nematoda: Heterocheilidae), an intestinal parasite of Heterotis niloticus (Osteichthyes: Arapaimidae) in Africa. Folia Parasaitologica 57:280-288.

Mozgovoy A.A. 1953: [ascaridata of animals and Man and the Diseases caused by them. Essentials of Nematodology 2.] akademiya Nauk SSSR, Moscow, 616 pp. (in russian.)

Petter, A.J., Vassiliades, G., Marchand, B. 1979: Une nouvelle espece de Multicaecum (Ascarididae, Nematoda) parasite de poisson en afrique. Bull. Inst. Fond. Afr. Noire 41:324-329.

Sprent, J.F.A. 1979.Ascaridoid nematodes of amphibians and reptiles: Multicaecum and Brevimulticaecum. J. Helminthol. 53: 91-116.

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