A new species of Andracantha Schmidt (Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae) parasite of Neotropical cormorants, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Gmelin) (Aves, Phalacrocoracidae) from southern Brazil

Abstract

A new species of the genus Andracantha Schmidt, 1975, parasite of Neotropical cormorants, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Gmelin, 1789), is described and compared to the other six species currently placed in the genus. The new species differs from the previously known species of Andracantha by having two inflations in the anterior region of the trunk and by having the testes in tandem in the central region of the body. These differences were also responsible for the diagnosis emendation of the genus now proposed. The orange pigmentation of the acanthocephalans recently collected from the intestine is documented for the first time in a species of this genus. This is the first record of adult specimens of any species of Andracantha in South America.

Parasites of the Neotropic cormorant Nannopterum (Phalacrocorax) brasilianus (Aves, Phalacrocoracidae) in Chile

“…There are seven species within the genus described to this date: Andracantha baylisi Zdzitowiecki, 1986, Andracantha clavata Goss, 1940, Andracantha gravida Alegret, 1941, Andracantha mergi Lundstrom, 1941, Andracantha tandemtesticulata Monteiro, 2006, Andracantha tunitae Weiss, 1914, and A. phalacrocoracis (Monteiro et al, 2006a. Andracantha phalacrocoracis has been described in Urile pelagicus (Phalacrocoracidae) in the United States and Japan, P. carbo in Czech Republic, Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Accipitridae) in the United States, and N. (P.) brasilianus in Brazil (Schmidt, 1975;Našincová et al, 1993;Richardson & Cole, 1997;Aznar et al, 2006;Monteiro et al, 2006a). Findings in this study expand the distributional range of A. phalacrocoracis to Chile.…”

“…Previous studies of endoparasites in the Neotropic cormorant indicate the presence of Nematoda from genera Eucoleus, Ornithocapillaria, Capillaria, Contracaecum, Baruscapillaria, Syncuaria, Porrocaecum, Anisakis, Pseudoterranova, Eustrongylides, Syngamus, and Tetrameres (Lamont, 1920;Vicente et al, 1995Vicente et al, , 1996Torres et al, 1991Torres et al, , 2005Monteiro et al, 2006bMonteiro et al, , 2011Garbin et al, 2011;Violante-González et al, 2011); four Acanthocephala species from genera Andracantha, Corynosoma, and Southwellina (Torres et al, 1992;Hinojosa-Sáez & González-Acuña, 2005;Monteiro et al, 2006aMonteiro et al, , 2011Violante-González et al, 2011); 28 species of Trematoda from genera Strigea, Tylodelphys, Neodiplostomum, Austrodiplostomum, Hysteromorpha, Euhaplorchis, Mehrastomum, Ribeiroia, Odhneria, Drepanocephalus, Ascocotyle, Maritrema, Phocitremoides, Pseudopsilostoma, Echinochasmus, Prosthogonimus, Clinostomatopsis, Clinostomum, Diplostomum, Ignavia, and Paryphostomum (Fedynich et al 1997;Lunaschi & Drago, 2005;Monteiro et al, 2007Monteiro et al, , 2011Drago et al, 2011;Violante-González et al, 2011); and two Cestoda from genera Paradilepis and Tetrabothrius sp. (Fedynich et al, 1997;Hinojosa-Sáez & González-Acuña, 2005;Monteiro et al, 2011;Violante-González et al, 2011).…”

Systematic Position of Pseudocorynosoma and Andracantha (Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae) Based on Nuclear and Mitochondrial Gene Sequences

“…Andracantha is composed of 7 species parasitizing shags, cormorants, and other piscivorous birds (Monteiro et al, 2006). The only diagnostic morphological difference between Andracantha and Corynosoma is the possession of spines in 2 fields of the trunk in the former.…”

“…Another genus proposed to have systematic affinities to Corynosoma is Andracantha Schmidt, 1975, which currently includes 7 species that occur in piscivorous birds, mainly shags and cormorants. Six of the 7 known species of Andracantha were formerly included in Corynosoma (Aznar et al, 2006;Monteiro, et al, 2006). The main diagnostic trait of Andracantha is the possession of 2 fields of spines on the trunk; both Corynosoma and Pseudocorynosoma have 1 field.…”

Morphological and molecular characterization of two new species ofAndracantha(Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) from New Zealand shags (Phalacrocoracidae) and penguins (Spheniscidae) with a key to the species

“…A more recent analysis placed Andracantha together with Bolbosoma and Corynosoma in a clade, suggesting a shared a common ancestor (García-Varela et al ., 2013). The genus Andracantha now comprises seven valid species, namely: A. gravida (Alegret, 1941) (type species), A. baylisi (Zdzitowiecki, 1986), A. clavata (Goss, 1941), A. mergi (Lundström, 1941), A. phalacrocoracis (Yamaguti, 1939), A. tunitae (Weiss, 1914) and A. tandemtesticulata Monteiro et al , 2006 (Monteiro et al, 2006).…”