Bunostomum phlebotomum Cattle Hookworm		Contents		Rev 01/04/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Bunostomum menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Ancylostomidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

 Classification

Phylum:  Nematoda
Class:    Chromadorea
Order:    Rhabditida 

Superfamily:  Ancylostomatoidea

Family:  Ancylostomidae

Bunostomum phlebotomum Railliet, 1900) Lane, 1917

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Buccal cavity with two pairs of ventral lances
• Anterior bent dorsally

Males:

• Length 10-12 mm, 400-475 um wide
• Spicules  filiform, 3.5-4 mm long

Females:

• Length 16-19 mm,500-600 um wide; pointed tail 400-500 um long
• Eggs 79-117 x 47-70 um, thick rough shell

Ref: Marchiondo et al., 2020

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Distribution:

Cosmopolitan in warm moist climates as a parasite of calle and other ruminants (Marchiondo et al., 2020).

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Economic Importance:

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Hosts:

Bunostomum phlebotomum is a parasite of cattle

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Feeding:

Small intestine

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Life Cycle:

Definitive hosts are cattle. Lifecycle is direct.

Definitive hosts pass eggs  in the feces. Eggs released in the feces develop and hatch as infective Lr larvae in 5-16 days. Infective L3 penetrate through the skin or are swallowed by definitive host.. Larvae migrate to the respiratory tract, are coughed up, swallowed, and reach the small intestine to develop to adults.

The prepatent period is 52-60 days   (Marchiondo et al., 2020).

• Infective larvae are positively thermo-tropic and positively phototropic. The larvae are not negatively geotropic and do not climb grass, but remain in the dung, gaining access to the host by adherence of the dung to the skin.

• Lack of air, such as would occur in tightly packed faeces; immersion of the faeces in water; temperatures below 10� C.; and lack of moisture, are all inhibitory to development. Infective larvae are resistant to at least 5 days� direct exposure to an atmosphere of relative humidity 75 at a temperature of 25� C.; in dry faeces they are resistant to 14 days� exposure to the same atmosphere.

• In Northern Nigeria desiccation is the most important inhibitory factor in development. The extreme dryness of the pastures in the dry season prevents development of the larvae and adherence of dung to the skin. Penetration of the skin of the host probably occurs only in the rainy season, maximal penetration probably occurring just after the rains are regularly established.

• The female lays 600 eggs in 12 hr. in the early rains, but the output of eggs by the females varies considerably throughout the year. It is greatest in the early rains and lowest in the later months of the dry season. (Sprent, 1946)

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Damage:

• In Nigeria, the female hookworm burden of nomadic cattle fluctuates throughout the year. The maximum burden occurs in the later months of the dry season.

• Moisture influences pasture infectivity. (a) Inhibition of larval development; (b) failure of feces to adhere to the skin; (c) fluctuation in the egg-laying rate of the female hookworms. The fluctuating pasture infectivity results in a fluctuating hookworm burden.

• The period of maximum hookworm burden in nomadic cattle more or less coincides with the period of incidence of a disease in farm stock cattle, associated with hookworm infestation. (Sprent, 1946)

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Management:

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References:

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