Gyrinicola Batrachiensis

Gyrinicola batrachiensis are nematode parasites that are members of the Oxyurida order. Members of this order are also known as pinworms. These organisms are nematodes that feed on micro-particles in the gut of vertebrates and invertebrates. Oxyurida is further separated into two superfamilies: Oxyuroidea and Thelastomatoidea, which are parasites of vertebrates and invertebrates respectively. Oxyuroidea is composed on three families: Pharyngodonidae; parasites of herbivorous vertebrates, and Oxyuridae and Heteroxynematidae; parasites of mammals and some birds.

The life cycle of G. batrachiensis is generally simple and direct. Adult worms live in the posterior gut of the aquatic larval stage, or tadpole, of an anuran host. The females of this species produce two types of eggs: thick-shelled eggs and thin-shelled eggs, which are produced in separate uteri. Eggs deposited by females are passed through the hosts feces into the environment. Transmission occurs when infective eggs are ingested by another host. G. batrachiensis is unique in the sense that it produces two different types of eggs to reproduce and that the parasite occurs only in the tadpole stage of its host.