Abstract: | The morphology of the adult and larval stages of Echinostoma deserticum n. sp. and its life cycle are described. Adults were collected from the small intestine of the rodent Arvicanthis niloticus from Niger. Sporocysts and rediae were isolated from Bulinus truncatus and B. globosus from south of Algeria (Djanet oasis) and Niger (Daikena district). Previously phylogenetic results using both mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequencing indicate that E. deserticum n. sp. is very distant from the only considered valid African Echinostoma species, E. caproni Richard, 1964. The new species also differs from the other 37-collar spine echinostomes in that it develops in bulinid snails and in its probable exclusive parthenogenetic reproduction. |