A parasitological survey of freshwater fishes in the Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas revealed myxozoan infections in two species of sunfish, Lepomis marginatus Holbrook and Lepomis miniatus Jordan (Perciformes: Centrarchidae). Pseudocysts were elongate-oval, 988 × 485 µm (ex L. marginatus) and 800 × 606 µm (ex L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetacercariae of Panopistus pricei (Brachylaimidae) are common parasites of 2 species of terrestrial gastropods (Neohelix albolabris; Webbhelix multilineata) in southeastern Nebraska. Field data were collected to determine if individuals of N. albolabris and W.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe intestinal helminth communities of creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus) were studied in the streams of southeastern Nebraska to characterize spatial variation, to determine whether drainages act as regional species pools, and to examine the spatial patterning of individual parasite species within and among drainages. Creek chub were sampled in the summer of 2003 and the spring of 2004 at each of 12 sites distributed evenly among 3 drainages in the Big Nemaha River watershed. Four intestinal helminths were recovered: Allocreadium lobatum, Proteocephalus sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA positive relationship between distribution and local abundance is often observed among species in a community. The resource-breadth hypothesis suggests that this pattern is the result of differential abilities among species to utilize available resources, such that generalists are widely distributed and locally abundant, and specialists are narrowly distributed and locally sparse. This hypothesis was tested in a community consisting of 22 species or morphospecies of parasites infecting members of 18 species of fish among 14 sites in 7 small streams in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraditionally, the field of parasitology has dealt with eukaryotic animals, to the exclusion of viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc., which is the way it will be approached here. The focus of the present paper will be on certain ecological aspects of the life cycles and life-history strategies employed by the Digenea, a diverse group of platyhelminths that includes some 25,000 species.
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