Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of

 

Date of this Version

9-1947

Document Type

Article

Citation

American Midland Naturalist (September 1947) 38(2): 257-416.

Studies from the Department of Zoology, University of Nebraska, number 230.

Comments

Public domain material.

Abstract

189 species of digenetic trematodes are reported from teleost fishes of the region of Tortugas, Florida. Among these are recognized: 44 new species, 9 new genera, 44 new combinations, 14 new synonyms, and 51 new host records. Several genera and species are considered synonyms of those previously named.

Of 237 species (approximately 2,039 specimens) of teleost fishes examined, 182 species or 76.8% were parasitized by adult, digenetic trematodes. Most of the host species harbored from one to three species of trematodes; 79 (or 43.4% of the 182) had a single species of trematode. Two fishes, however, were each susceptible to ten species of trematodes; and one to eleven.

Of the 189 species of trematodes, 105 or 55.5% were collected from one kind of host; 43 (22.7%) from two hosts; 14 (7.4%) from three hosts; and only 12 from more than three hosts (up to 21 hosts in one case). 138 species, or 73%, were limited to a single host genus. This marked tendency toward host specificity seems to be shown to an even greater degree by trematodes of Japanese waters but to a less degree by trematodes of the region of the British Isles.

Present records indicate that a larger percentage of the Tortugas species of trematodes occur in the American Pacific than occur along the New land Coast. Of the 189 species, 24 are now known from the Pacific, 15 Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Excluding the deep-water species, the difference is even greater.

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