Eulimids (Gastropoda, Eulimidae) on the Sea Cucumber Holothuria mexicana (Ludwig, 1875) (Holothuroidea, Holothuriidae) in Belize

Abstract

This study presents new records for 4 eulimid species (Gastropoda, Eulimidae) including Melanella eburnea (Megerle von Mühlfeld, 1824), Melanella hypsela (Verrill & Bush, 1900), Melanella sp., and Eulimostraca encalada Espinosa, Ortea & Magaña, 2006 found on the body wall of the sea cucumber Holothuria mexicana in Belize. Three of these records (M. hypsela, M. eburnea, and E. encalada) represent a first for the Western Caribbean ecoregion and close a distributional gap for these species in the Caribbean. The geographic distribution of M. eburnea is thereby expanded by ~800 km; M. hypsela by ~1,200 km and E. encalada by ~970 km in the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic province. This article presents for the first time H. mexicana as a new host record for E. encalada.

Assessment of Megadenus holothuricola Rosén, 1910 (Eulimidae), an endoparasite of Holothuria mexicana Ludwig, 1875 (Holothuriidae) in the southern Gulf of Mexico and the description a new species

“…Therefore, they are usually collected apart from their host, which thus may remain unknown (Warén 1984). However, many eulimid species are found to live on the body surface like ectoparasites, or as endoparasites especially in holothurians, accomplished by a series of morphological and anatomical changes (Nekhaev 2016;González-Vallejo 2018;Souza et al 2018).…”