Effect of temperature on the reproduction of the snail biompholaria glabrata

RESUMO

1. The reproduction of the snail Biomphalaria glabrata, one of the intermediate hosts of Schistosoma mansoni, was evaluated under laboratory conditions by measuring egg production, number of ovipositions, number of eggs per oviposition, and hatching rate using a Latin square design with five different temperature treatments. This permitted the elimnation of occasional variation in oviposition due to manipulation or a priori group. 2. Egg production and spawning rates were higher at temperatures between 20.0 and 27.5-C than at 17.5-C. Number of eggs per spawning and hatching rate did not vary with temperature. 3. During a 3-day adaptation phase, a short-term therminal effect appeared in chich some indices of reproductive rates differed signifcantly from those of the experimental phase