Life history of Acanthocollaritrema umbilicatum Travassos, Freitas and Bührnheim, 1965 (Digenea: Cryptogonimidae).

The trematode Acanthocollaritrema umbilicatum Travassos, Freitas and Bührnheim 1965 is redescribed and data on its life cycle are provided for the first time. Adults were obtained from the common snook, Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch 1792), and both rediae and cercariae from the snail Heleobia australis (d'Orbigny 1835), a new intermediate host. Metacercariae were found encysted among the scales, fins, and musculature and in the buccal cavity of naturally infected fishes, Poecilia vivipara Bloch and Schneider, 1801, Jenynsia multidentata (Jenyns 1842), and Phalloptychus januarius (Hensel 1868), all new intermediate hosts. The examination of the type and freshly obtained adults of A. umbilicatum has shown that they possess 54-64 circumoral spines, in a double row. Experimental infections were achieved in the intermediate hosts H. australis and P. vivipara.