The Niche of the Gill Parasite Dactylogyrus banghami (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) on Notropis stramineus (Pisces: Cyprinidae)

Authors

Jill A. Anderson, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Kimberly J. Blazek, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Tamara J. Percival Cook, Sam Houston State UniversityFollow
John J. Janovy Jr., University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

6-1993

Comments

Published in Journal of Parasitology (June 1993) 79(3): 435-437. Copyright 1993, the American Society of Parasitologists. Used by permission.

Abstract

Distribution of the monogenean Dactylogyrus banghami on the gills of the fish Notropis stramineus (Cyprinidae) was described by calculation of mean relative positions and Levins' niche breadths on the linear spatial resource gradients gill filament length and gill arch length. Thirty fish with 276 worms were examined; only one of the fish had an additional gill parasite species (Trichodina sp). Worms were more broadly and evenly distributed across the length of the gill arch than they were on the filament (breadths of 0.91 and 0.67, respectively). Mean worm positions were near the center of both resources: 54% of the distance from the arch cartilage on the filament, and 54% from the ventral end of the arch itself. The results are considered consistent with predictions about the niche structures of species in unsaturated noninteractive specialist communities.