Syngamus trachea

Syngamus trachea	Contents	Rev 10/17/2025
Gapeworm of Poultry	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
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Classification

Phylum: Nematoda
Class: Chromadorea
Order: Rhabditida

Superfamily: Strongyloidea

Family: Syngamidae

Syngaminae

Syngamus trachea (Montague, 1811) von Siebold, 1836

Type species of the genus.

Synonyms:

Morphology and Anatomy:

Bright reddish color
Buccal capsule well developed with 8-10 triangular teeth.

Females

Females measure 5-40 mm long and 350 um wide with a conical posterior end
Vulva anteriorly located, one-sixth of the body length from the anterior end.
Eggs are ellipsoidal and operculated measuring 88 x 50 um

Males:

2-6 mm long x 200-300 um wide
Bursa obliquely truncated
Spicules slender, equal length 53-82um.

Ref: Machiondo et al, (2020)

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

Economic Importance:

Parasites of domestic birds (chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl) and many wild birds.

Hosts:

Domestic birds (chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl) and many wild birds.

Birds can become infected by three modes of transmission: (1) by direct ingestion of the L3 in the egg, (2) by direct ingestion of the hatched infective L3, or (3) by indirect ingestion of earthworms (also slugs, snails, and beetles) which contain the encysted L3 in their body musculature and serve as transport hosts or accidental hosts.

After entering the bird the L3 penetrate the intestinal wall, enter the bloodstream, and are carried to the heart and then to the lungs within 46 h after infection. The larvae molt to the adult stages in the lungs within 5 days. Copulation occurs in the trachea or bronchi.

Females produce eggs that are coughed up, swallowed, and excreted in the feces of the bird. The L3 develops within the egg in 12 weeks The prepatent period ranges from 18 to 20 days.

Chickens can remain infected for 23-47 days and turkeys for 48-224 days

Ref: Marchiondo et al., 2020

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