Choanotaenia infundibulum
Choanotaenia infundibulum is a cestode found in chickens and gallinaceous birds (fowls) but not very frequently, especially in domestic birds. The adults are up to 25 cm long and usually don't have more than 30 proglottids (egg-containing body segments). The eggs, like ascarids and other tapeworms, are ovoid shape. Most tapeworms have eggs that look very similar to one another, as do most parasitic helminths, although there are always notable differences.
This tapeworm has and indirect life cycle which comes with a large variety of intermediate hosts including flies, locusts, ants, and termites. The most common intermediate host, however, is Mucosa domestica (aka Common Housefly).
Life cycle of C. infundibulum
1) Proglottids are shed in a bird's feces where they move into surrounding vegetation quickly (they are very motile).
2) Intermediate host ingests these proglottids where they release the eggs into the gut after digestion.
3) In the body cavity of the intermediate host the eggs develop to cysticercoids.
4) The birds then ingest the intermediate host where the cysticercoids release the 2nd stage C. infundibulum into the gut of the bird.
5) The prepatency period is roughly 2-4 weeks in the gut where they live until their proglottids are excreted in the feces.
