Observations on Calcareous Corpuscles of Larval Echinococcus granulosus of Various Geographic Origins

SummaryCalcareous corpuscles isolated from larval Echinococcus granulosus collected from sheep in Chile and New Zealand and from cattle in Lebanon showed only minor differences in their chemical composition and their heat-induced crystallization patterns. The only definite differences found were that the Chilean material lacked manganese, and that it had a somewhat higher magnesium and a lower phosphorus content than the other samples. As a consequence of the relatively low phosphorus content the Chilean material yielded upon heating at most traces of apatite. Previously described much more pronounced differences in chemical composition and crystallization patterns between corpuscles from different tapeworm species are hence probably essentially species-specific.