Furcocercous cercariae infecting freshwater snails in Malabar: two new species from Lymnea luteola Lamarck and Gyraulus convexiusculus (Hutton)

The present paper describes two new species of furcocercous cercariae, Cercaria sp. XVIII Malabar n. sp. and Cercaria sp. XIX Malabar n. sp. infecting the freshwater snails, Lymnea luteola and Gyraulus convexiusculus respectively in the Malabar region of Kerala. Cercaria sp. XVIII Malabar n. sp., is a distome, pharyngeate, non-ocellate, longifurcate furcocercous cercaria with two pairs of penetration glands and 16 pairs of flame cells and recovered from L. luteola. Cercaria sp. XIX Malabar n. sp., is also a distome, pharyngeate, longifurcate cercaria with a pair of unpigmented eyespots and 20 pairs of flame cells and recovered from G. convexiusculus. Sporocysts of both the cercariae developed in the digestive glands. The present paper describes the cercariae and compares them with related species to establish their systematic position.