Destruction of Ascaris suum eggs during their feeding to various species of beetles.

Eggs of Ascaris suum (Linné, 1758) were fed to nine species of beetles of the families Scarabacidae, Carabidae and Histeridae in order to ascertain the dependence of egg penetration on the structure of mouth parts of the beetle. The mouth parts of some beetle species have various filtration apparatuses preventing the helminth eggs from penetrating into the digestive tract. Geotrupes stercorosus (Scriba) was found to possess a crushing apparatus which destroys a great number of helminth eggs penetrating into the digestive tract.