Six types of sphaeractinomyxon are reported from the coelomic cavity of oligochaetes collected from the Minho River estuary in northern Portugal. Four new types are morphologically and molecularly described from freshwater species belonging to the genera Psammoryctides Hrabě and Potamothrix Vejdovský et Mrázek in the upper estuary, thus significantly increasing the number of known freshwater sphaeractinomyxon. In the lower estuary, sphaeractinomyxon types 8 and 10 of Rangel et al. (2016) are recorded infecting the marine oligochaete Tubificoides pseudogaster (Dahl). A single specimen of T. pseudogaster further displayed infection by one of the four new types found in the upper estuary, suggesting the involvement of sphaeractinomyxon in the life cycles of myxosporean species that infect migratory fish hosts. The acquisition of these second hosts is proposed to have allowed the myxosporean counterparts of sphaeractinomyxon to cross environmental barriers and conquer new habitats. Phylogenetic analyses of the SSU rRNA gene reveal the four new types clustering within the monophyletic clade of mugiliform-infecting myxobolids, strengthening the previously proposed involvement of the sphaeractinomyxon collective group in the life cycles of this specific group of myxosporeans. Endocapsa types also cluster within the latter clade, having actinospores that differ from those of sphaeractinomyxon only in the presence of valvular swellings that do not change when in contact with water. In this study, however, one type was found displaying actinospores with and without valvular swellings in the same oligochaete specimen. This overlap in actinospore morphology is given as grounds for the demise of the endocapsa collective group., Sónia Rocha, Ängela Alves, Carlos Antunes, Pedro Fernandes, Carlos Azevedo and Graça Casal., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Acanthocephalus balkanicus Batchvarov et Combes, 1974 was incompletely described from the northern crested newt, Triturus cristatus (Laurenti) (Amphibia: Salamandridae), a possible synonym of the Balkan crested newt, Triturus ivanbureschi Arntzen et Wielstra, from a pond in village of Pesnopoy, southern Bulgaria. We provide a full description of adult males and females of the same taxon from the olm, Proteus anguinus Laurenti (Amphibia: Proteidae), the only exclusively aquatic cave-dwelling vertebrate in Europe, captured in Postojna-Planina Cave System in Slovenia. Cystacanths were also collected from the cave ecomorph of Asellus aquaticus (Linnaeus) (Crustacea: Asellidae) in the same location. Molecular analysis of specimens from Slovenia revealed that they are genetically almost identical to those of Acanthocephalus anguillae (Müller, 1780), a common parasite of European freshwater fishes. We propose to recognise the morphological and host differences by describing A. balkanicus as a new subspecies of A. anguillae. Acanthocephalus anguillae balkanicus is rather small and cylindrical with cylindrical proboscis having 10 rows of 6 hooks with simple roots each, long neck, large balloon-shaped lemnisci, small spherical anterior testis, and 6 club-shaped cement glands in 3 pairs. SEM images reveal more morphological details and the X-ray scans of gallium cut hooks shows considerably higher levels of phosphorus and calcium in adult hooks than in cystacanth hooks, especially in basal areas. Sulfur levels were higher in the arch and basal area of cystacanth hooks than adult hooks. Considering that both definitive and intermediate hosts of the Slovenian population of this acanthocephalan are bound to cave life, it is possible that its entire life cycle is uniquely completed underground.
The Tomsk region located in the south of Western Siberia is one of the most high-risk areas for tick-borne diseases due to elevated incidence of tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease in humans. Wild birds may be considered as one of the reservoirs for tick-borne pathogens and hosts for infected ticks. A high mobility of wild birds leads to unpredictable possibilities for the dissemination of tick-borne pathogens into new geographical regions. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in wild birds and ticks that feed on them as well as to determine the role of different species of birds in maintaining the tick-borne infectious foci. We analysed the samples of 443 wild birds (60 species) and 378 ticks belonging to the genus Ixodes Latraille, 1795 collected from the wild birds, for detecting occurrence of eight tick-borne pathogens, the namely tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), West Nile virus (WNV), and species of Borrelia, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Bartonella and Babesia Starcovici, 1893, using RT-PCR/or PCR and enzyme immunoassay. One or more tick-borne infection markers were detected in 43 species of birds. All markers were detected in samples collected from fieldfare Turdus pilaris Linnaeus, Blyth's reed warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum Blyth, common redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus (Linnaeus), and common chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus. Although all pathogens have been identified in birds and ticks, we found that in the majority of cases (75.5 %), there were mismatches of pathogens in birds and ticks collected from them. Wild birds and their ticks may play an extremely important role in the dissemination of tick-borne pathogens into different geographical regions., Igor G. Korobitsyn, Nina S. Moskvitina, Oleg Yu. Tyutenkov, Sergey I. Gashkov, Yulia V. Kononova, Sergey S. Moskvitin, Vladimir N. Romanenko, Tamara P. Mikryukova, Elena V. Protopopova, Mikhail Yu. Kartashov, Eugene V. Chausov, Svetlana N. Konovalova, Natalia L. Tupota, Alexandra O. Sementsova, Vladimir A. Ternovoi, Valery B. Loktev., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In an effort to expand knowledge of Clade 3-one of the ten clades that compose the non-monophyletic order 'Tetraphyllidea' all current members of which parasitise orectolobiform sharks-we targeted species of orectolobiform sharks that had not previously been examined for 'tetraphyllidean' cestodes. That work led to the discovery of three new species off Australia and Taiwan. Ambitalveolus gen. n. was erected to accommodate these species. Ambitalveolus costelloae gen. n. et sp. n., Ambitalveolus kempi sp. n., and Ambitalveolus penghuensis sp. n. differ from one another in scolex size, genital pore position, and number of marginal loculi, proglottids, and testes. Among 'tetraphyllideans', the new genus most closely resembles the two other genera in Clade 3. It differs from Carpobothrium Shipley et Hornell, 1906 in lacking anterior and posterior flap-like extensions of its bothridia; instead, its bothridia are essentially circular. It differs from Caulopatera Cutmore, Bennett et Cribb, 2010 in that its vitelline follicles are in two lateral bands, rather than circum-medullary, and in that its bothridia bear, rather than lack, conspicuous marginal loculi. A key to the three genera in Clade 3 is provided. A phylogenetic analysis including new sequence data for one of the three new species of Ambitalveolus gen. n., the only species of Caulopatera, and all four described species and one undescribed species of Carpobothrium supports previously hypothesised close affinities between Caulopatera and Carpobothrium, with the new genus as their sister group. This is the first report of 'tetraphyllidean' cestodes from the orectolobiform shark family Brachaeluridae Applegate. The association of the new species with orectolobiform sharks is consistent with those of the other members of Clade 3. However, whereas species of Carpobothrium and Caulopatera parasitise members of the hemiscylliid genus Chiloscyllium Müller et Henle, species of Amitalveolus gen. n. parasitise members of the Brachaeluridae and Orectolobidae Gill.
A study on the effects of prescribed burning on rodent community ecology was conducted in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. The study aimed at generating ecological knowledge about the changes in rodent communities when areas of the park are intentionally burned to regulate grasslands or reduce undergrowth that can lead to uncontrolled forest fires. A completely randomized design (CRD) factorial layout with two treatments (burned and unburned) and two replications was applied. A total of 148 animals comprising six species of rodent and one insectivore were captured over 2,940 trap nights. Among the trapped individuals, 41.9% were adults, 16.1% juveniles and 41.9% sub-adults. Males and females were at parity between treatments. Species abundance was estimated using the minimum number alive (MNA) method for different rodent species and was found to vary with treatment where Mastomys natalensis declined in burned plots whilst Arvicanthis niloticus increased. However, species diversity did not differ across treatments (F1, 10 = 0.15, p = 0.70). Differences in the reproductive condition of female M. natalensis (z = 4.408, df = 15, p < 0.001) and A. niloticus (z = 2.381, df = 15, p = 0.017) were observed between treatments showing that higher numbers of reproductively active females were observed in burned plots in March, whilst in unburned plots more were observed from November to February. Conservation strategies involving periodic habitat burning should, therefore, consider small mammal reproductive periods to ensure that species potentially at risk are not adversely affected and able to rapidly recover from the effects of burning in temporarily lowering food resources and longer term impacts of increased predation caused by reduced cover.
Recent examinations of some marine fishes from off the southern coast of Iraq revealed the presence of five species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae): Philometra arabiensis sp. n. (males and females) from the ovary of the shrimp scad Alepes djedaba (Forsskål) (Carangidae, Carangiformes), Philometra psettoditis Moravec, Walter et Yuniar, 2012 (females) from the body cavity of the Indian halibut Psettodes erumei (Bloch et Schneider) (Psettodidae, Pleuronectiformes), Philometra terapontis Moravec, Gopalakrishnan, Rajkumar, Saravanakumar et Kaliyamoorthy, 2011 (female) from the ovary of the jarbua terapon Terapon jarbua (Forsskål) (Terapontidae, Centrarchiformes), Philometra sp. (females) from the ovary of the Arabian blackspot threadfin Polydactylus mullani (Hora) (Polynemidae, Carangariformes) and Philometra sp. 2 of Moravec et al. (2016a) (females) from the ovary and body cavity of the bartail flathead Platycephalus indicus (Linnaeus) (Platycephalidae, Perciformes). Philometra arabiensis sp. n. is mainly characterised by the length of spicules (198-243 µm) and gubernaculum (75-99 µm), the gubernaculum/spicule length ratio (1 : 2.33-2.79), the structure of the gubernaculum distal portion and the male caudal end, and the body length of males (1.86-2.73 mm). The present findings of P. psettoditis and P. terapontis in fishes of the Arabian Gulf represent new geographical records for these parasites.
Multivalvulid myxosporeans of the genera Kudoa Meglitsch, 1947 and Unicapsula Davis, 1924 (Cnidaria: Myxozoa) are often the cause of unsightly cyst formation or postmortem myoliquefaction in the trunk muscle of commercial marine fish, which reduces the market value of infected individuals. Twenty species (18 Kudoa spp. and two Unicapsula spp.) have been recorded from carangid fish, although the majority of them, excluding polyxenous species, such as K. amamiensis Egusa et Nakajima, 1980, K. iwatai Egusa et Shiomitsu, 1983, K. nova Naidenova, 1975, K. quadratum (Thélohan, 1895) and K. yasunagai (Hsieh et Chen, 1984), are limited to a single or a few fish species. We report the occurrence of macroscopic cysts of Kudoa trachuri Matsukane, Sato, Tanaka, Kamata et Sugita-Konishi, 2011 in the trunk muscle of four new host fish species, i.e., Pseudocaranx dentex (Bloch et Schneider), Decapterus akaadsi Abe, D. muroadsi (Temminck et Schlegel) and Decapterus tabl Berry, fished from the Philippine Sea (Northwest Pacific Ocean), off southwestern of Japan. Myxospore morphology and genetic characteristics of the ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) of these isolates were consistent with previous records of K. trachuri from Trachurus japonicus (Temminck et Schlegel) from around Japan. In addition, a new species of Kudoa that forms long filamentous pseudocysts in trunk myofibres was found in four of the six D. tabl collected in this study. We describe Kudoa longichorda sp. n. for this new isolate, based on its morphology of subquadrate myxospores with four shell valves and polar capsules and with small dimensions (length 4.3-5.5 µm, width 6.0-6.8 µm, thickness 4.8-6.3 µm, polar capsule length 2.3-3.1 µm, polar capsule width 1.1-1.7 µm), as well as 18S and 28S rDNA sequences distinct from those of known species.
The parasite communities of predatory fish can be species rich and diverse, making them effective models for studying the factors influencing temporal and spatial variation in these communities. Over a ten-year period an initial study was done on the metazoan parasite communities of Scomberomorus sierra (Jordan et Starks) from four locations on the south-central Pacific coast of Mexico. Twenty-four metazoan parasite taxa were identified from 674 S. sierra specimens: three species of Monogenea, eight Digenea, one Cestoda, one Acanthocephala, four Nematoda, five Copepoda, and two Isopoda. The parasite communities were characterised by high ectoparasite species richness, with monogeneans and some didymozoid species being numerically dominant. Community structure and species composition varied between locations, seasons and sampling years. Similarity between the component parasite communities was generally low, despite the occurrence of a distinctive set of host-specialist parasites. Interannual or local variations in some biotic and abiotic environmental factors are possible causes of the observed variations in the structure and species composition of the parasite community of S. sierra. Ecological factors were therefore considered to have more influence than phylogenetic aspects (host phylogeny) on parasite community structure.
The invasion success of gibel carp (Carassius gibelio) depends on demographic and competitive traits. The major biological trait responsible for the invasiveness of C. gibelio is the mode of reproduction. Apart from sexual reproduction, which is typical in fish, C. gibelio is a unique cyprinid species able to reproduce through asexual gynogenesis, which is also known as sperm-dependent parthenogenesis, observed in all-female populations. Though the sexual and asexual forms of C. gibelio co-exist widely in natural habitats, the gynogenetic form has the capacity to modulate the range of effective ecological niches, which may facilitate the process of invasion. In this paper, we reviewed current knowledge of the sexual and gynogenetic forms of gibel carp along with their physiological advantages, immunological traits, and ability to withstand different environmental conditions. As parasitic infection may directly alter the immunology of hosts, and also indirectly alter their investment in reproduction, we provide some insights into the role of parasites as one of the potential drivers facilitating the coexistence of asexual and sexual forms. We highlight evidence that gibel carp have been identified as a serious threat to native species; hence, its impact on the ecosystem is also discussed.
Research on hand preference in non-human primates provides information about the evolutionary origin of population-level bias of human handedness. Human hand preference has been shown to remain stable throughout an individual's lifespan. However, the stability of hand preference and its change with age in non-human primates remains questionable. We recorded hand use in lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) during simple reaching tasks in three time periods over six years. We tested the effect of age and body posture on the direction and strength of hand preference in 23 observed individuals. In a subsample of 13 individuals followed for two or three subsequent time periods, we assessed the stability of hand preference across study periods. The direction of hand preference was highly stable; we detected no individuals changing from a left- to right-, or right- to left- preference and repeated quantitative measures of hand preference were correlated among subsequent study periods. Hand preference was, however, reinforced in older individuals and an individual's hand preference was stronger in postures with both hands free for foraging. Stable hand preference at an individual level, and its reinforcement over an individual's lifetime, is emerging as a robust finding across the primate order.