A potential zoonotic parasite, the digenean Gymnophalloides nacellae, on the Magellanic coast in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean: its life cycle and geographical distribution

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Gilardoni, C (Author) Other; Di Giorgio, G (Author) Other; Bagnato, E (Author) Other; Pina, S (Author) Other; Rodrigues, P (Author) ICBAS; Cremonte, F (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Polar Biology

Vol. 43

Pages: 725-734

ISSN: 0722-4060

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus - 0 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00S-6B3

DOI: 10.1007/s00300-020-02674-7

Abstract (EN): This is an integrative study of a potential zoonotic digenean from the Magellanic Southwestern Atlantic coast. The life cycle of the gymnophallid Gymnophalloides nacellae Cremonte, Pina, Gilardoni, Rodrigues, Chai and Ituarte, 2013 (Digenea) at the type locality, Puerto Deseado (47 degrees 45 ' S, 65 degrees 51 ' W), Santa Cruz province, was elucidated. This digenean uses the upper subtidal clam Gaimardia trapesina (Lamarck) (Gaimardiidae), which lives on the fronds of the giant kelp, as first intermediate host. A very short-stem furcocercous cercaria emerges and enters the limpets, Nacella magellanica (Gmelin) and N. deaurata (Gmelin) (Nacellidae), which live in the lower rocky intertidal zone. The unencysted metacercariae inhabit the extrapallial space of the limpet at high prevalences and intensities of infection. When the black oystercatcher Haematopus ater Vieillot and Oudart (Charadriidae) preys upon it, it becomes infected, acting as the definitive host. This parasite seems to exhibit a high specificity for their first and second intermediate hosts. Its geographical distribution is from 47 to 55 degrees S in Patagonia, and it is restricted to those sites where the giant kelp reaches to lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones where the limpets are present. Gymnophalloides seoi Lee, Chai and Hong, 1993, a parasite of the Pacific oyster Magallana gigas (Thunberg) (Ostreidae), causes a zoonotic disease in Korea; thus, G. nacellae represent a risk of being a zoonotic parasite if infected limpets are consumed.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10