Fig. 2

Graphical representation of the life cycle of Taenia multiceps. The adult T. multiceps (1) resides in the small intestine of the definitive host. Eggs or gravid proglottids are shed in the feces of the definitive host into the environment (2). After ingestion, the eggs hatch in the small intestine of the intermediate host (3) and release the oncospheres (4a) that penetrate the intestinal wall and migrate through the bloodstream to the central nervous system (CNS) (4b), and eventually, in non-cerebral forms, to subcutaneous and intramuscular tissues (4c). In these locations, the oncosphere encysts and develops over several months into a mature infective coenurus, Coenurus cerebralis (4a, 4b). Definitive hosts (5) are infected by ingesting the tissue of an infected intermediate host containing the mature coenurus