Vogeloides bassarisci		Contents		Rev 03/24/2026
Lungworm		Classification		Hosts
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Vogeloides Menu		Economic Importance		Damage
		Distribution		Management
Return to Pneumosporididae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex HomePage		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea
Chromadoria

           Rhabditida 

                       Spirurina

                          Thelazioidea

                   Pneumosporididae

                      

           Vogeloides felis (Vogel, 1928) Davtion, 1933

Synonyms:

Oslerus felis Vogel 1928

Osleroides (Osleroides) felis (Vogel 1928) Orlov, Davtian, and Liubimov 1933

 Metathelazia felis (Vogel 1928) Dougherty 1943

Morphology and Anatomy:

• Stout-bodied nematodes; anterior extremity slightly narrowing posterior to buccal capsule, then becoming increasingly wider posteriorly
• Cuticle of females, and sometimes males, often partially detached and highly folded especially in anterior extremity.
• Male cuticle with 10 to 12 prominent longitudinal ridges between buccal capsule and near level of spicules; cuticular ridges in female much less pronounced, often irregular, fewer in number.
• Six prominent lips (1 pair large lateral and 2 pairs smaller submedian) represented as fleshy lobes; four large sublateral papillae in outer circle, 4 smaller papillae at edge of each submedian lip, circumoral papillae not seen;  amphids lateral.
• Buccal capsule weakly sclerotized internally with 6 small crescentic petals (2 at each lateral margin of base of buccal capsule and 1 at the dorsal and ventral side) whose in ternal margins have 6 small bifid teeth when viewed en face
•  Esophagus with  muscular and glandular portions; excretory pore at level of nerve ring consisting of a small oval gland diverging into 2 thin undulating tubules which extend posteriorly at level of lateral cords to near posterior extremity of body; deirids below level of nerve ring (Fig. 15).

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Distribution:

Specimens were recovered from bronchioles of Felis rufus (bobcat) in west Texas, USA. Over 1800 nematodes were recovered from about 50 bobcats (Pence and Stone, 1977)

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Feeding:

Parasite of the primary and secondary bronchioles.

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Biology and Ecology:

  Lungs of bobcats heavily infected lungs with V. felis may appear mildly edematous; numerous nematodes are observed in primary and secondary bronchioles. Immediately adjacent to an infected bronchiole a patchy interstitial pneumonia with edema of the alveolar septa, hypertrophy of smooth muscle, and a basophilic alveolar infiltration may occur (Pence and Stone, 1977).

Lungworms, Vogeloides felis, teased from the parenchyma (arrows) surrounding the bronchioles of a bobcat Photomicrograph from Pence and Stone, 1977

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Life Cycle:

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Biocca, E. and Chabaud, A.G. 1952. Description d'une nouvelle espece de genre Metathelazia (Nematoda, Spiruroidea). Ann Para- sitol 27: 394-399.

Chabaud, A.G. and Biocca, E. 1950. Description de Metathelazia servalis n. sp. et observation sur le genre Metathelazia. Bull Soc Zool Fr 75: 260-267

Pence, D.R. and Stone, J.E. 1977.  Lungworms (Nematoda: Pneumospiruridae) from West Texas carnivores. J. Parasitol. 63:979-991.

Wu, H.W. and Hu, T.P. 1938. Parasitic nematodes of Hainan. Sinensia 9:275-610.

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Copyright 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: March 24, 2026.