Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana-141 004, India.
Anoplocephaline cestodes were recovered from sheep slaughtered at Ludhiana and their morphology was studied. The digestive tracts of 284 sheep were collected from slaughter house and examined, out of which 99 were found positive for cestodes (34.85%). The morphological characters revealed that tapeworms recovered belonged to 8 species of anoplocephaline cestods belonging to 4 genera. These were Moniezia expansa, M. benedeni, Thysaniezia giardi, Stilesia globipunctata, Avitellina centripunctata, A. sudanea, A. lahorea and A. woodlandi. The sheep examined, 31 (10.9%) had pure infection of Moniezia expansa, 7(2.46%) were of M. benedeni, 20 (7%) were of Stilesia globipunctata, 1 (0.35%) of Thysaniezia giardi, and 40 (14%) were of Avitellina spp. Out of 40 sheep infected with Avitellina, 23 (57.5%), 11(27.5%), 5(12.5%), 1(2.5%) were infected with A. centripunctata, A. sudanea, A. lahorea and A. woodlandi, respectively.
Anoplocephalines, Cestode, Morphology, Sheep, Punjab
