THE TRICHOMONADS 



95 



Tritrichomonas criceti (Wantland, 

 1956 emend. ) nov. comb. (syn. , Tri- 

 chomonas cricetus Wantland, 1956)occurs in 

 the cecum and colon of the golden hamster. 

 It measures 12 to 25 by 5 to 10 /i. 



Genus TRICHOMONAS Donne, 1837 



Members of this genus have 4 anter- 

 ior flagella. 



TRICHOMONAS TEN AX 

 (MULLER, 1773)DOBELL, 1939 



Synonyms : Cercaria tenax, Tetra- 

 tyiclio)iioiias buccaUs, Trichomonas biic- 

 calis, Trichomonas elongata. 



Disease : None. 



Hosts : Man, monkeys [Macaco 

 nmlatta. Papio sphinx). 



Location : Mouth, especially between 

 gums and teeth. 



Geographic Distribution : Worldwide. 



Prevalence : Common. T. tenax has 

 been found in 4% to 53% of persons exam- 

 ined in different surveys (Wenrich, 1947). 



Morphology : The morphology of T. 

 tenax has been studied by Wenrich (1947) 

 and Honigberg and Lee (1959). The latter 

 remarked on the close morphological re- 

 semblance of this species to T. gallinae. 

 The body is ellipsoidal, ovoid or piriform, 

 4 to 16 (i long and 2 to 15(a wide. Different 

 strains differ in size; the smallest of 5 

 strains studied by Honigberg and Lee (1959) 

 averaged 6. by 4. 3 /i and the largest 8. 4 

 X 6. 0|U . The 4 anterior flagella are 7 to 

 15fx long. They originate in a basal gran- 

 ule complex anterior to the nucleus and 

 terminate in little knobs or rods. The un- 

 dulating membrane is shorter than the body; 

 it ranged from 40 to 100% and averaged 

 from 69 to 82% of the body length in the 5 

 strains studied by Honigberg and Lee (1959). 

 An accessory filament is present. There 

 is no free posterior flagellum. The costa 

 is slender and accompanied by a group of 



large paracostal granules. The parabasal 

 apparatus consists of a typically rod- 

 shaped body and a long filament extending 

 posteriorly from it. The axostyle is slen- 

 der and extends a considerable distance 

 beyond the body. There is no periaxostylar 

 ring at its point of exit nor is it accompa- 

 nied by paraxostylar granules. The capi- 

 tulum of the axostyle is somewhat enlarged 

 and spatulate. The pelta is of medium 

 width. Wenrich (1947) said that a cyto- 

 stome was present, but Honigberg and Lee 

 (1959) found no evidence of one. Honigberg 

 and Lee (1959) described the division proc- 

 ess in detail. 



Pathogenesis : None. 



Cultivation : Honigberg and Lee (1959) 

 cultivated T. tenax in Balamuth's yolk in- 

 fusion medium. Diamond (1960) cultivated 

 it axenically in a complex medium contain- 

 ing chick embryo extract. 



Remarks : Hinshaw (1928) infected a 

 dog which had gingivitis with T. tenax. 



TRICHOMONAS EQUIBUCCALIS 

 SIMITCH, 1939 



Disease : None . 



Hosts : Horse, donkey. 



Location : Mouth, around gums and 

 teeth^ 



Geographic Distribution : This species 

 has apparently been reported only from 

 Jugoslavia. 



Prevalence : Simitch (1939) found T. 

 eqidbuccalis by culture in 7 out of 22 

 horses and 2 out of 4 donkeys in Jugoslavia. 



Morphology : The body is piriform or 

 ovoid, 7 to 10 /i long. It has a single ble- 

 pharoplast and 4 anterior flagella 10 to 

 15;i long. The undulating membrane is 

 relatively short, rarely reaching the pos- 

 terior end. There is no free posterior 

 flagellum. The costa is slender and not 

 always visible. The axostyle is apparently 

 slender and extends beyond the body. 



