Ultrastructure of the oncospheral envelopes in developing and fully formed eggs of the hymenolepidid cestode, Staphylocystoides stefanskii (Zarnowski, 1954), is described. The uterus in this species is saccular, with deep infoldings of the uterine wall which form pocket-like structures. The uterine wall is composed by a flat syncytial uterine epithelium containing elongated nuclei with prominent nucleoli. The differentiating and mature oncospheres are surrounded by three envelopes: (1) an outer envelope; (2) an inner envelope consisting of three layers - an extraembryophoral cytoplasmic layer, a dense and relatively thick embryophore, and an intraembryophoral cytoplasmic layer; (3) a thin oncospheral membrane, surrounding the oncosphere. The outer envelope usually contains 2 nuclei in the preoncospheral stage, however, no nuclei were observed in this layer in the fully formed eggs. The inner envelope shows in sectioned material 1-2 nuclei in its intraembryophoral layer. The extraembryophoral layer of the inner envelope increases in thickness during the egg maturation. The embryophore was initially discontinuous, formed by the blocks of the electron-dense substance, and situated directly under the outer limiting membrane of the inner envelope. Later the neighbouring blocks fuse together and finally produce a continuous dense layer of embryophore. The embryophore remains slightly vacuolised for some time and finally forms a thick homogeneously electron-dense layer. The oncospheral membrane appears striated on the high-power micrographs. The ultrastructure of oncospheral envelopes in S. stefanskii is compared with those in other mammalian hymenolepidids.
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