An electrophoretic comparison of Physaloptera Rudolphi, 1819 (Nematoda: Physalopteridae) from two species of Australian bandicoot (Marsupialia: Peramelidae)

Abstract

An electrophoretic study was conducted on nematodes of the genus Physaloptera that occur in the stomachs of two species of Australian bandicoot, Perameles nasuta and P. gunnii. Each nematode was genetically characterised at 28 enzymes encoding a presumptive 30 loci. No fixed genetic differences were detected between the nematodes in P. gunnii from two localities. A comparison of nematodes from the two host species, however, revealed fixed genetic differences at 15 (50%) loci. This suggests that each host species is infected by a different species of Physaloptera.