Pneumospirura bassarisci

Pneumospirura bassarisci	Contents	Rev 08/24/2026
Lungworm	Classification	Hosts
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Pneumospirura Menu	Economic Importance	Damage
	Distribution	Management
Return to Pneumosporididae Menu	Feeding	References
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Classification:

Chromadorea Chromadoria

Rhabditida

Spirurina

Thelazioidea

Pneumosporididae

Pneumospirura bassarisci Pence & Stone. 1977

Morphology and Anatomy:

Cuticle without striations. Small, oval, irregularly arranged subcuticular tuberculations originating from hypodermis extending into cuticle covering most of body except extreme anterior and posterior extremities.
Buccal capsule sclerotized, aperture dorso-ventrally elongate, capsule wall thickened anteriorly into 6 lip-shaped folds with the 4 lateral folds shallow and the 2 dorsoventral folds deep; four large papillae in outer circle, 4 smaller sublateral circumoral papillae located in inward foldof buccal capsule, amphids lateral.
Walls of buccal capsule thickened with 4 bifid teeth
Esophagus muscular portion anterior to nerve ring and posterior glandular portion; deirids lateral near level of nerve ring
Excretory pore ventral, below level of nerve ring, joining a small oval gland diverging into a pair of small, lateral excretory tubules which extend posteriad to level of anus
Intestine smooth, straight, without ceca.


Pneumospirura bassarisci 1: Head ventral view; 2: Head, lateral view; 3: Head en face; 4: Egg; 5: Female anterior; 6: Female posterior; 7: Male posterior; 8:Male posterior ventral view; 9: Gubernaculum. 10: Spicule. Drawings from Pence and Stone, 1977.

Male:

Eight pairs pedunculate caudal papillae; 2 pairs preanal, 1 pair adanal, and 5 pairs postanal .
A pair of phasmids near tip of tail.
Spicules equal, similar, falciform, sharp-tipped
Gubernaculum divided in 2 identical parts, about 25% of spicule length, lightly sclerotized .
Caudal alae absent
Male tail spirally coiled approximately 1.5 times; tip conical and pointed

Female:

Vulva opening near anus, with heavy sphincter muscle in terminal portion of vagina, ovijector muscular, closed by sphincter at level of junction of vestibule and uterus.
Eggs thick-shelled, with well-developed larvae in terminal portion of uterus.
Female tail conical, pointed, weakly truncate

Ref: Pence and Stone, 1977

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

Distribution:

Described from a ringtail raccoon host (Bassariscus astutus) in the Davis Mountains, west Texas, USA.

Feeding:

Parasite of the primary and secondary bronchioles.

All rngtails examined were lightly infected, with a maximum of nine nematodes recovered from the lungs of one animal. Grossly infected lungs appeared normal. In bronchioles containing nematodes there was an exudate of epithelial cells with a few lymphocytes and plasma cells. There was bronchiectasis in some areas and hypertrophy of smooth muscle fibers surround ing the infected bronchiole (Pence and Stone, 1977).

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Life Cycle:

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

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