Abnormalities in the WFU strain of Taenia crassiceps (Cyclophyllidea: Taeniidae) following years of propagation in mice

Asexually proliferating Taenia crassiceps (Zeder, 1800) metacestodes isolated within past decades have been successfully sub-cultured under experimental conditions using Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 mice. However, during their development, morphological irregularities of scolex structures have been reported in two of the three strains of this cestode species maintained in mice – ORF and KBS. The main goal of this work is to describe the abnormalities observed in a sample of 118 cysticerci of the third T. crassiceps strain used at present – WFU. Morphological abnormalities were detected in 39.8% of the evaginated scoleces; they consisted of supernumerary suckers (n= 2), duplicated (n= 2) or absent rostellum (n= 1), as well as absent or aberrant (n= 29) hooks, which were significantly shorter when compared to the large and short hook lengths referred to in the literature.