Cepaea spp. as a source of Brachylaima mesostoma (Digenea: Brachylaimidae) and Brachylecithum sp. (Digenea: Dicrocoeliidae) larvae in Poland.

Parasite diagnostics were carried out on 11 Polish populations of Cepaea spp. In three of them, coming from the roadside ditches of a village (Rytel, northern Poland), very high (up to 60%) prevalence of Brachylaima mesostoma was observed. This study provides the first molecular evidence of the presence of B. mesostoma inside Cepaea spp. in Europe. In a few snails from a population found in a private garden in a small town (Chełmża, northern Poland), larvae of Brachylecithum sp. were present. Cercariae and/or metacercariae of B. mesostoma were observed in both species of Cepaea: C. hortensis and C. nemoralis, whereas larvae of Brachylecithum sp. were found only in C. nemoralis. Both species of parasites inhabited snail hepatopancreas whose structure was significantly damaged by larvae. There was no significant connection between parasite invasion and snail host morphotype. The research did not allow the reasons for the high prevalence of B. mesostoma in Cepaea spp. to be explained, and also did not explicitly indicate how the parasite invaded Cepaea spp. individuals making them, at the same time a second intermediate host. However, it poses important questions about the life cycle of the parasite that may threaten extensively kept small-size farms of poultry.