Trichostrongylus longispicularis		Contents		Rev 01/27/2026
Hairworms; Bankrupt Worms		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Trichostrongylus Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Trichostongylidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

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 Classification

Chromadorea

Chromadoria

Rhabditida

  Rhabditina

   Trichostronglyloidea

    Trichstrongylidae

Trichostrongylus longispicularis Gordon, 1933

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Morphology and Anatomy:

Morphometric species identification may require structural specifics of the reproductive system and the tail, including specifics of vulva and anus location, sizes of the ovijector, sphincter, ejector and vulval area, details of cuticular crests, and 22 metric parameters (Yevstafieva et al., 2020).

General characteristics:

• Small nematodes, < 7 mm long, hair-like  without cephalic inflations and no obvious buccal capsule.

Males:

• 2.3-6  mm long by 50-60 um wide. 
• Spicules short, twisted, unbranched, unequal in length, and usually pointed.
• Gubernaculum is 52-61 um.
• A distinct excretory notch in the esophageal region serves as a useful morphological character.

Females:

• 3.2-8 mm long and 55-70 um wide.
• Female tail bluntly tapered (61-79 um long).
• No vulvar flap.
• Eggs are arranged pole to pole longitudinally in the uterus and measure 36-39 x 85-86 um.

Ref: Snyder et al., 2020

Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:

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Distribution:

Trichostrongylus longispicularis occurs worldwide  as a paraite of the small intestine of sheep and goats and occurs less frequently in cattle. (Snyder et al., 2020)

 

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Economic Importance:

A parasite of the small intestine and occasionally the abomasum of cattle, sheep, goats, and alpaca.

 

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Hosts:

Trichostrongylus longispicularis is a parasite of cattle, sheep, goats, and alpaca

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Feeding:

Trichostrongylus longispicularis parasitizes the anterior part of the small intestine and sometimes in the abomasum of cattle, sheep, goats, alpaca (Snyder et al., 2020).

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Life Cycle:

Life cycle direct. Eggs deposited in feces.  L1 and L2 probably microbivorous. The infective L3 develop in 1-2 weeks and can overwinter on pasture but die off by summer. Exsheathment of the L3 occurs in the small intestine and in the abomasum. The prepatent period is 2-3 weeks in ruminants (Snyder et al., 2020).

 

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this species, click	If species level data are not available, click for genus level parameters

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Damage:

 

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Management:

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References:

Snyder, D.E., Marchiondo, A.A. Cruthers, L.R. 2020. Nematoda, Trichostrongyloidea. Chapter 2 in Marchiondo, Cruthers and Fourie (eds) Parasiticide Screening Vol 2. Academic Press.

Yevstafieva, V.O., Starodub, Y.S., Pisarenko, V.M., Barabolia, O.V., Nikiforova, O.V. 2020. Differential species traits of Trichostrongylus longispicularis (Nematoda, Trichostrongylidae). Regulatory Mechanisms in Biosystems 11:449-454.

 

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