The phylogeny and life cycle of two species ofProfilicollis(Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) in marine hosts off the Pacific coast of Chile

Abstract

Resolving complex life cycles of parasites is a major goal of parasitological research. The aim of this study was to analyse the life cycle of two species of the genus Profilicollis, the taxonomy of which is still unstable and life cycles unclear. We extracted individuals of Profilicollis from two species of crustaceans (intermediate hosts) and four species of seagulls (definitive hosts) from sandy-shore and estuarine habitats along the south-east Pacific coast of Chile. Mitochondrial DNA analyses showed that two species of Profilicollis infected intermediate hosts from segregated habitats: while P. altmani larvae infected exclusively molecrabs of the genus Emerita from fully marine habitats, P. antarcticus larvae infected the crab Hemigrapsus crenulatus from estuarine habitats. Moreover, P. altmani completed its life cycle in four seagulls, Chroicocephalus maculipennis, Leucopheus pipixcan, Larus modestus and L. dominicanus, while P. antarcticus, on the other hand, completed its life cycle in the kelp gull L. dominicanus. Accordingly, our results show that two congeneric parasites use different and spatially segregated species as intermediate hosts, and both are capable of infecting one species of definitive hosts. As such, our analyses allow us to shed light on a complex interaction network.

Mesoscale spatiotemporal variability in a complex host-parasite system influenced by intermediate host body size

“…Migratory seagulls and their parasites constitute a model system to investigate how parasite exposure and intermediate host size-structure relate with prevalence and aggregation. Migratory Charadriiformes are usually involved in indirect parasite-host interactions, in which the birds are the definitive host and there is at least one intermediate host, usually invertebrates that accumulate parasites over their ontogeny (e.g., Rodríguez, D’Elía & Valdivia, 2016 ). In these interactions, parasite infective stages are trophically transmitted between definitive and intermediate hosts, so that variations in the abundance of the former imply significant variations in parasite exposure of the latter ( Latham & Poulin, 2003 ; Smith, 2007 ).…”

“…In this complex system, infected seagulls release the infective stage of Profilicollis altmani Meyer, 1931 in their faeces. These faeces are then ingested by the molecrab Emerita analoga Stimpson, 1857, and the cycle is completed after predation on molecrabs by the seagulls Larus dominicanus (Lichtenstein, 1823), Chroicocephalus maculipennis Lichtenstein, 1823, Leucopheus modestus (Tschudi, 1843), and Leucopheus pipixcan (Wagler, 1831; Rodríguez, D’Elía & Valdivia, 2016 ).…”

New Records on Acanthocephalans from California Sea Lions Zalophus californianus (Pinnipedia, Otariidae) from California, USA

“…Profi licollis altmani was described from surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata Linnaeus) and M. deglandi stejnegeri (Ridgway) in North America (Perry, 1942). Th is species was also reported in gulls (Chroicocephalus maculipennis Lichtenstein), Larus dominicanus, L. pipixcan, and Leucophaeus modestus von Tschudi), grebe (Podiceps occipitalis) and whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) from the Pacifi c and Atlantic Oceans (Van Cleave, 1947;Bourgeois & Th relfall, 1982;Riquelme et al, 2006;Goulding & Cohen, 2014;Rodríguez et al, 2016), as well as in a sea otter E. lutris in California (Near et al, 1998;Mayer et al, 2003). Juvenile worms were found in the intestines of the Peruvian grunt (Anisotremus scapularis Tschudi) from the coastal zone of Chorrillos, Peru (Chero et al, 2014).…”

Primer reporte del acantocéfalo Profilicollis altmani en una cigüeñuela de cuello negro Himantopus mexicanus

“…En Perú se han registrado dos (2) especies de acantocéfalos de la familia Pholymorphidae en aves acuáticas: Profilicollis altmani (Perry 1942), el cual tiene como hospedero intermediario al muy muy (Emerita análoga) (Stimpson 1857) (Goulding & Cohen 2014, Rodríguez et al 2016) y como hospederos definitivos a las siguientes especies de gaviotas: Larus belcheri (Vigors 1829), Leucophaeus pipixcan (Wagler 1831) y L. modestus (Tschudi 1843) (Tantaleán et al 2005, Hartwitch 1954, Gonzáles-Viera et al 2009); Polymorphus spindlatus, cuyo único hospedero definitivo reportado en Perú es una garza Huaco (Nycticorax nycticorax) (Linnaeus 1758) (Amin & Heckmann 1991).…”