Spatio-temporal occurrence of infections by the microsporidium Liebermannia dichroplusae

LANGE, C. E.; MARIOTTINI, Y.; DE WYSIECKI, M.L.; CIGLIANO, M.M.

Protistology

Protozoological Society, Russian Academy of Science

Año: 2020

Liebermannia dichroplusae is an intracellular parasite that develops in the epitheliumcells of the Malpighian tubules of the univoltine melanopline Dichroplus elongatus,a common and widespread grasshopper in southern South America that readilybecomes an agricultural pest when outbreaks occur. Heavy infections by L.dichroplusae cause conspicuous pathologies and are clearly deleterious to thehost. Transovarial transmission is the main route of infection in L. dichroplusaewhile horizontal transmission appears to be rare. The examination of 243 samplescontaining a total of almost 17.000 nymphs and adults of D. elongatus collected at88 localities in eight provinces of Argentina between 1984 and 2017 showed that L.dichroplusae appears to occur only in the central-eastern Pampas region (BuenosAires province) while its host inhabits almost the whole country. It is hypothesizedthat the relatively localized occurrence of L. dichroplusae compared to the widegeographical range of its host, could be the result of the combination of the dominantmode of transmission of the pathogen the pathologies it causes, and the main typeof dispersal of D. elongatus