Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy, 1850) Chitwood, 1932
Synonymy.—Oxyuris blattae orientalis Hammerschmidt, 1847, of Bütschli, 1871, and Oxyuris blattae-orientalis of Magalhães, 1900; Oxyuris blattae Hammerschmidt, 1847, of Galeb, 1878; Aorurus (Thelastoma) appendiculatus Leidy, 1850. [Chitwood, 1932.] Serrano Sánchez (1947) has divided this species into three geographical varieties as follows: L. appendiculata (Leidy, 1852) (Dobrovolny and Ackert, 1934) var. indiana; L. appendiculata (Leidy, 1852) (Chitwood, 1932) var. americana; L. appendiculata (Serrano Sánchez, 1947) var. hispana. However, Basir (1956) does not recognize these varieties. The Russians recognize hispana (M. B. Chitwood, personal communication, 1957).
Natural hosts.—Blaberus atropos, South America (Chitwood, 1932).
Blatta orientalis, Egypt? (Galeb, 1878); Europe (Bütschli, 1871); U.S.S.R. (Sobolev, 1937; Sondak, 1935); U.S.A., Nebraska (Todd, 1944); Spain (Serrano Sánchez, 1947): Recorded as var. hispana. Czechoslovakia (Groschaft, 1956). England (Lee, 1958a).
Blatta orientalis or Periplaneta americana, Brazil (Magalhães, 1900).
Periplaneta americana, U.S.A.: Texas (Todd, 1943); Nebraska (Todd, 1944); Kansas (Dobrovolny, 1933; Dobrovolny and Ackert, 1934); North Carolina (Hatcher, 1939); Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan (Hoffman, 1953). Czechoslovakia (Groschaft, 1956). England (Lee, 1958a).
Cockroach, Venezuela (Tejera, 1926).
Cockroaches (Blatta orientalis, Blattella germanica, and/or Periplaneta americana), U.S.A. (McAdow, 1931).
Chitwood (1932) also listed China for distribution of the worm, but we could not tell which host was involved.
The worms are found in the colon and rectum of the host. Galeb (1878) found as many as 20 individuals in a single B. orientalis. Sobolev (1937) found 52 percent of B. orientalis infected with L. appendiculata; the mean number of worms per roach was 1.5 and the maximum 2. Dobrovolny and Ackert (1934) found 69 percent of 222 P. americana infected with this species.