Helminth parasites of the endangered hooded grebe,Podiceps gallardoi, from Patagonia Argentina, with the description of two new digenean species

Abstract

In March 2011, a predator killed 33 hooded grebes, Podiceps gallardoi Rumboll (Podicipedidae), a critically endangered species, in a nesting colony at El Cervecero Lake, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The viscera of ten birds were examined for helminths. Two new species of Trematoda were recovered from the intestines. The plagiorchid Plagiorchis patagonensis n. sp. is mainly characterized by the larger size of the oral sucker relative to the ventral sucker, and by the distribution of the vitellarium in two lateral fields, confluent between the caecal bifurcation and the ventral sucker. The echinostomatid Euparyphium tobianum n. sp. is mainly characterized by possessing a head collar with 37-39 spines (4 angle spines on each ventral lappet, 4 lateral spines in a single row on each side, and 21-23 dorsal spines in a double row). An unidentified cestode, a tetramerid nematode and a notocotylid trematode were also recovered from the birds. This is the first record of helminths parasitizing the hooded grebe.

First report of cestode infection in the crustaceanArtemia persimilisfrom Southern Chilean Patagonia and its relation with the Neotropical aquatic birds

“…Previous surveys on helminth parasites from aquatic birds in southern South America are scarce, with a few studies from the last decades including parasites of gulls ( Larus dominicanus and L. maculipennis ), cormorants ( Phalacrocorax olivaceus ), grebes ( Podiceps occipitalis, P. major and P. gallardoi ) and swans ( Cygnus melanocoryphus ) (see Torres et al, 1991; Torres et al, 1993; González-Acuña et al, 2009; González-Acuña et al, 2010; González-Acuña et al, 2017; Núñez et al, 2017b). The available data on the helminth fauna associated to Chilean Flamingo are very limited, consisting of two reports of nematodes from captive birds in the San Francisco Zoo (Fox et al, 1974) and two further nematodes from Central Argentina (Núñez et al, 2017a).…”

Checklist of the nematode parasites of wild birds of Argentina

“…Then, it is diffi cult to obtain a suffi cient number of these hosts because many are protected by national and international laws (Pérez Ponce de León et al, 2011). Much of the information available on parasites in wild birds comes from studies carried out in birds that died by natural causes (Núñez et al, 2017(Núñez et al, , 2018. Other important sources of information for taxonomic studies on helminths of birds are the helminthological collections, which preserve information on spatial and temporal biodiversity (Drago et al, 2018).…”

First report of cestode infection in the crustacean Artemia persimilis from Southern Chilean Patagonia and its relation with the Neotropical aquatic birds

“…Previous surveys on helminth parasites from aquatic birds in Chile are scarce with a few studies from the last decades including parasites of gulls (Larus dominicanus and L. maculipennis), cormorants (Phalacrocorax olivaceus), grebes (Podiceps occipitalis, P. major and P. gallardoi), and swans (Cygnus melanocoryphus) (see Torres et al, 1991Torres et al, , 1993González-Acuña et al, 2009, 2010Núñez et al 2017b). The available data on the parasitofauna associated to Chilean flamingo is very limited; there are two reports of a nematode species found in two captive animals of the San Francisco Zoological Garden (Fox et al, 1974) and two more nematodes from Central Argentina (Núñez et al, 2017a).…”