A case of a facultative life-cycle diversification in the fluke Pleurogenoides sp. (Lecithodendriidae, Plagiorchiida)

Abstract

Numerous specimens of the native, intestinal digenean fluke Pleurogenoides sp. (Lecithodendriidae, Plagiorchiida), a genus known for the simultaneous co-existence of genuine adults and progenetic, adult-like metacercaria, were found by chance parasitizing in the oesophagus of a recently imported, tropical Bristly Bush Viper (Atheris hispida). The snake had before been force-fed with native water frogs, the assumed definitive host of these flukes. Hence water frogs act as the second intermediate host or as a paratenic host for Pleurogenoides flukes, as they must house progenetic fluke larvae, which develop to genuine adults when transmitted to an appropriate consecutive host, the ancestral definitive host, a reptile. The European Pleurogenoides fluke species seem to display a facultative life-cycle diversification, they can adjust their life-history strategy according to their immediate transmission opportunities. This phenotypic plasticity allows the parasite to respond quickly to any changes in the abundance of a host; usually this biological oddity results in a life-cycle truncation by the elimination of the definitive host.