Tapeworm discovery in elasmobranch fishes: quantifying patterns and identifying their correlates

Abstract

Most parasites from known host species are yet to be discovered and described, let alone those from host species not yet known to science. Here, we use tapeworms of elasmobranchs to identify factors influencing their discovery and explaining the time lag between the descriptions of elasmobranch hosts and their respective tapeworm parasites. The dataset included 918 tapeworm species from 290 elasmobranch species. Data were analysed using linear mixed-effects models. Our findings indicated that we are currently in the midst of the greatest rate of discovery for tapeworms exploiting elasmobranchs. We identified tapeworm size, year of discovery of the type host, host latitudinal range and type locality of the parasite influencing most on the probability of discovery of tapeworms from elasmobranchs and the average time lag between descriptions of elasmobranchs and their tapeworms. The time lag between descriptions is decreasing progressively, but, at current rates and number of taxonomic experts, it will take two centuries to clear the backlog of undescribed tapeworms from known elasmobranch species. Given that the number of new elasmobranch species described each year is on the rise, we need to re-assess funding strategies to save elasmobranchs (and, thus, their tapeworm parasites) before they go extinct.