Alloxenic Distribution of Cystacanths of Two Profilicollis Species in Sympatric Crustacean Hosts in Chile

Abstract

The taxonomic status of Profilicollis ( = Falsifilicollis Webster, 1948) species in crustaceans in Chile is examined. Mole crabs, Emerita analoga (Stimpson 1857), living in the splash zone of a sandy beach at Lenga off the coast of central Chile, harbor Polymorphus (Profilicollis) bullocki Mateo, Córdova and Guzmán 1982, while the estuarine crabs, Hemigrapsus crenulatus (Milne-Edwards, 1837), living in an oligohaline inlet at the same site, harbor Profilicollis spp. cystacanths which cannot be distinguished specifically to either Profilicollis antarcticus or P. chasmagnathi Holcman-Spector, Mañé-Garzón and Dei-Cas 1977. We found no morphological data supporting records of P. altmani along the coast of Chile. Therefore, and after examination of both their morphology and the literature, we consider that P. bullocki must be reinstated as a valid species in the genus. There is a widespread distribution of habitats, such as sandy beaches and inlets, as well as a variety of host taxa involved in the life cycle of Profilicollis spp. Consequently, they provide an interesting scenario for testing hypotheses regarding the coevolution and host specificity of these parasites.

Nyctiphanes couchii as intermediate host for the acanthocephalan Bolbosoma balaenae in temperate waters of the NE Atlantic

“…In that case they found a crab that harboured a maximum of 3 cystacanths while the rest of the crabs examined harboured only 1 per individual. Balboa et al (2009) detected the same larval stage harboured by several Brachyura (Linnaeus, 1758) and Anomura (Macleay, 1838), which showed differences in the intensity of infection. Experimental infections are required to determine whether size is the limiting factor for infection intensity.…”

Phylogeography of a marine acanthocephalan: lack of cryptic diversity in a cosmopolitan parasite of mole crabs

“…Three species of acanthocephalan were originally described from Emerita crabs and the birds that consume them: Profilicollis altmani (Perry, 1942), Profilicollis kenti (Van Cleave, 1947) and Polymorphus texensis Webster, 1948, although after further analysis it was proposed that the three species are synonymous and should be referred to as Profilicollis altmani (Karl, ; Nickol et al ., ). However, the consolidation of these species into P. altmani has not been widely adopted (Royal et al ., ; Smith, ), and another acanthocephalan, Polymorphus bullocki (Mateo, Córdova and Guzmán, 1982) is also proposed as a distinct morphological species infecting the mole crabs of Chile and Peru (Balboa et al ., ). We present new molecular data to help resolve the taxonomy of this parasite by testing whether the acanthocephalans infecting mole crabs in North and South America are genetically distinct, as well as whether there are morphologically cryptic species found in mole crabs.…”

El parasitismo por Profilicollis bullocki (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) en Emerita analoga (Anomura: Hippidae) según condiciones contrastantes de abundancia de hospedadores definitivos en Chile

“…Número de ejemplares de E. analoga de 5 clases de longitud cefalotoráxica (LCT) que se encontraron con y sin P. bullocki, antes y después de la llegada de aves al área de estudio / Number of E. analoga specimens in 5 classes of the cephalothorax length (LCT), found with and without P. bullocki, before and after the arrival of seabirds to the study area y es el que se propone para la dispersión geográfica de P. bullocki. Sin embargo, la validez taxonómica de varias especies del género Profilicollis (= Polymorphus) aún se encuentran en revisión (Mateo et al 1983, García-Varela & Pérez-Ponce de León 2008, Balboa et al 2009, por lo que ambas podrían ser conespecíficas.…”

“…Esta especie de acantocéfalo utiliza como hospedador intermediario a Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857), donde habita al estado de cistacanto en el hemocele, y alcanza el estado adulto en el intestino de aves marinas como Larus pipixcan, Larus dominicanus, Larus maculipennis, Larus modestus, Larus serranus, Phalacrocorax atriceps y Calidris spp. (Hinojosa-Sáez & González-Acuña 2005, Riquelme et al 2006, Balboa et al 2009. Una vez que el ave ingiere al crustáceo infectado y que los parásitos alcanzan su estado adulto, las hembras ovígeras liberan los huevos en el intestino del hospedador y a través de las heces son diseminados al ambiente.…”

“…y Eutetrarhynchus sp., y del nemátodo Proleptus sp. (Oliva et al 1992, Iannacone et al 2007, Balboa et al 2009. En general, las infecciones por estados larvales de parásitos son acumulativas, y en consecuencia, su abundancia aumenta con el tamaño corporal del hospedador (Alvitres et al 1999, Smith 2007, Oliva et al 2008, aunque esta correlación no ha sido encontrada en todos los estudios realizados (Iannacone et al 2007).…”