Abstract
The brine shrimp genus Artemia Leach (Crustacea, Branchiopoda), a keystone group in hipersaline wetlands all over the world, offers an excellent model to study species interactions (parasitism) and to explore “hidden fauna” (avian endoparasites). The present study is the first report on the parasite infection of the South American species Artemia persimilis from the Southern Chilean Patagonia (50°S–53°S). Samples were collected in Los Cisnes and Amarga lagoons, the two most austral populations of this crustacean described to date, during two seasons (spring and autumn). A total of 98 larvae of cestodes of the family Hymenolepididae (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea) were found and identified as belonging to the following taxa: Confluaria podicipina (adult parasitic in grebes), Flamingolepis sp. (a cestode parasite of flamingos), Fimbriarioides (?) sp. (adults of the species of this genus infect waterfowl and shorebirds) and Wardium sp. (definitive host unknown, most probably charadriiform birds). This is a new geographical record of C. podicipina and the genus Fimbriarioides for the Neotropical Region, the latter being the most widely distributed species at both localities and seasons surveyed, and the only species recorded in autumn (April). Cestode community composition in Los Cisnes population was characterised by dominance of Flamingolepis sp., representing more than 65% of the total cestode species recorded, whereas in the Amarga population the most abundant parasite (>83%) was Fimbriarioides (?) sp. Significant seasonal variations were detected in Los Cisnes lagoon for Flamingolepis sp. and C. podicipina, with exclusive presence of them in spring (November). Besides providing novel information on cestodes infection in A. persimilis, this study provides new data on the life cycle of cestodes of Neotropical aquatic birds such as South American flamingos and grebes. Our finding expands the knowledge on the biodiversity and population dynamics of extreme and unique environments from high latitudes (Patagonia) and makes evident the need of further taxonomical and ecological studies for better understanding the life cycles of avian helminth parasites in the Neotropics and the role of aquatic invertebrates in them.
Highlights
Conservation of biodiversity is one of the greatest challenges in this century given the accelerated rate of species loss due to global threats such as habitat degradation, biological invasions, overexploitation, and co-extinctions
IL, USA). 141 142 Results Systematic survey of cestode larvae Family Hymenolepididae Perrier, 1897 Confluaria podicipina (Szymanski, 1905) (Figs. 2, 6A) Remarks We do not provide a full redescription of the cysticercoids from A. persimilis in Chile because they possess similar morphological characters as previously described cysticercoids of Confluaria podicipina (Maksimova, 1981; Georgiev et al, 2005; Redón et al, 2015a), i.e. the presence of an external envelope formed by the anterior part of cercomer (Figs. 2A, B); invaginable rostellum armed with 10 aploparaksoid hooks
Maybe this difference is due to the smaller populations of the parasite and its definitive hosts at the two sampling sites in Southern Chile comparing to the populations of C. podicipina and P. nigricollis Brehm at the
Summary
Conservation of biodiversity is one of the greatest challenges in this century given the accelerated rate of species loss due to global threats such as habitat degradation, biological invasions, overexploitation, and co-extinctions. Parasites are important components of biodiversity and they are exposed to the same threats as their hosts (Gómez & Nichols, 2013). Maintenance of the parasitic biodiversity has not been traditionally considered as a priority strategy (Dunn et al, 2009) despite their fundamental role as ecological and evolutionary drivers, biomarkers of the ecology of their hosts and of ecosystems health, and the benefits they can provide for host populations (reviewed by Gómez & Nichols, 2013). Understanding the hostparasite relationships in a given ecosystem, either in terms of the host specificity, virulence, transmission pathways, or life-cycles, is essential to know and preserve global biodiversity. Parasites with complex life cycles, i.e. those that involve more than one host, which are usually part of a common food web, may be used as good indicators of the aquatic biodiversity (Hechinger & Lafferty, 2005), and can reflect the specific diet of the final host and their population dynamics.
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