Protostrongylus rufescens

Protostrongylus rufescens	Contents	Rev 10/25/2025
Red Lungworm of Sheep and Goats	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Protostrongylus Menu		Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Protostrongylidae Menu	Feeding	References
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Protostrongylus rufescens (Leuckart, 1865) Kamenskyi, 1905

Type species of the genus

Synonyms:

Morphology and Anatomy:

Brownish red color, thread-like

Males:

Length 16-46 mm x 120-170 um wide
Spicules long, almost straight, 230-340 um long; distal halves with two membranous pectinated alae
Gubernaculum 120-170 um with a well-developed telamon.
Bursa well developed.

Females:

Length 25-65 mm x 150-290 um wide
Tail conoid, 70-130 um long.
Vagina (1.1-1.3 mm long) separated from the uteri by a strong sphincter.
Vulva posterior, 120-250 um anterior to the anus.
Eggs 75-120 x 40-85 um, unsegmented when laid

Ref: Marchiondo, 2020

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

Biology and Ecology:

Parasitize small bronchioles of sheep and goats causing localized lesions.

Life Cycle:

Intermediate hosts are snails, definitive hosts are sheep and goats.

Oviparous females deposit eggs in the lungs of thwe sheep or goat definitive host.
Eggs develop and hatch as L1 (340-400 um long x 19-20 um wide with a rhabditiform esophagus
L1 larvae migrate up the respiratory tract to the pharynx, are swallowed, and passed out in the feces. The L1 penetrates a snail intermediate host and molts twice to the ensheathed L3 in 23 weeks.
Sheep and goats become infected by ingesting infected snails with their food.
Infective L3 enter the lymphatic system, molt to the L4 in the mesenteric lymph nodes, and migrate to the lungs where they develop and become adults..
The prepatent period is 5-6 weeks.
(Transplacental transmission of Protostrongylus stilesi and Protostrongylus rushi can occur in bighorn sheep.)
Ref: Marchiondo, 2020

Ecophysiological Parameters:

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

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

References:

Battisti, A., Paolo, M.D., Guardo, G.D. 2000. Pulmonary protostrongyliasis in a mountain hare from Italy. J Wildlife Dis 36:367-369.

Lesage, C., Jouet, D., Patrelle, C., Guitton, C.S., Decors, A., Ferte, H. 2014. Protostrongylus pulmonalis (Frolich, 1802) and P. oryctolagi Babos, 1955 (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae), parasites of the lungs of European hare (Lepus europaeus L.) in France: morphological and molecular approaches. Parasitol Res 113:2103-2111.

Lesage, C., Patrelle, C., Vrignaud, S., Decors, A., Ferte, H., Jouet, D. 2015. Intermediate hosts of Protostrongylus pulmonalis (Frolich, 1802) and P. oryctolagi Babos, 1955 under natural conditions in France. Parasites and Vectors 8:104. DOI 10.1186/s13071-015-0717-5

Marchiondo, A.A. 2020. Nematoda, Metastrongyloidea. Chapter 2 in Marchiondo, Cruthers and Fourie (eds) Parasiticide Screening Vol 2. Academic Press