Natural light influences cercarial emergence of Calicophoron daubneyi but not that of Haplometra cylindracea from temperature-challenged Galba truncatula

Laboratory investigations on Galba truncatula experimentally infected with Calicophoron daubneyi were carried out to study the influence of natural light and sky nebulosity on cercarial emergence in snails subjected every week outdoors to a thermal shock (a mean of 12 °C for 3 h) during the patent period. The same study was also performed in G. truncatula naturally infected with Haplometra cylindracea according to the same protocol. Compared to infected controls always reared indoors at 20 °C, the number of cercariae emerging from snails subjected outdoors to a thermal shock was significantly greater, whatever parasite species. Natural light had an effect on snails releasing C. daubneyi cercariae after the thermal shock because their numbers were significantly higher between 601 and 1,200 lx and for the highest nebulosity values (7–8 octas). In contrast, the type of light used during thermal shock did not influence cercarial emergence of H. cylindracea because the numbers of cercariae per shedding snail noted under natural light or a 3,000-lx artificial light did not significantly differ from each other. Most snails releasing H. cylindracea cercariae were significantly more numerous for light levels higher than 3,000 lx. As for Fasciola hepatica cercariae, natural light had a significant influence on cercarial emergence of C. daubneyi, and this behavioural particularity for cercariae of both digeneans might be due to the fact that both species develop in the same ruminants and the same snail host.