Trematode Parasites of Marine Birds in Antarctica: The Distribution of Gymnophallus deliciosus (Olsson 1893)

Authors

Eric P. Hoberg, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of AgricultureFollow

Date of this Version

1984

Citation

Antarctic Journal (1984): 159-160.

Comments

United States government work.

Abstract

During continuing studies of avian helminths at Palmer Station, Antarctica (Hoberg 1983) trematodes were found as parasites only of charadriiform birds. Digeneans were not represented in extensive collections (including several thousand specimens of helminths) from spheniscids, procellariids, and phalacrocoracids.

The pattern of distribution of trematodes in marine birds in Antarctica is influenced by the availability of suitable intermediate hosts (mollusca) and the foraging behavior of potential final hosts. Littoral environments near Palmer are structurally simple and of low diversity due to ice scouring. The limpet, Nacella polaris, is the dominant intertidal invertebrate and one of the few molluscs that could serve as a potential intermediate host for trematodes (Jones and Williams 1968, 1969a, 1969b). The scarcity of suitable intermediate hosts and the predominance in the avifauna of pelagic foragers would further reduce the possibility for the successful completion of some life cycles (von Linstow 1878; Hoberg 1984).