New record of calyptraeid hosts for the pea crab calyptraeotheres garthi (Fenucci, 1975) (Decapoda, Pinnotheridae) in Argentina

OCAMPO E; NUÑEZ JD; CLEDÓN M; ROBLES R

CRUSTACEANA

BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS

Lugar: Leiden; Año: 2012 vol. 85 p. 1463 - 1474

0011-216X

Calyptraeotheres garthi (Fenucci, 1975) is one of the nine species of Pinnotheridae occurring in Argentina and the only species of that genus located in this region. This species can be found from the San Matías Gulf, Argentina to Río Grande do Sul, Brazil where it lives in symbiotic association with limpets of the family Calyptraeidae. Currently, two species of limpets have been reported as hosts of this species: Crepidula protea (d Orbigny, 1841) and Crepidula argentina Simone, Pastorino & Penchaszadeh, 2000. We report here four more species of limpets serving as hosts of C. garthi, namely Bostrycapulus odites Collin, 2005, Crepidula cachimilla Cledon, Simone & Penchaszadeh, 2004, Crepidula plana Say, 1822 and Trochita pileus (Lamarck, 1822). Thus, this pinnotherid appears to be, as others members of the family, a generalist symbiotic species since it dwell on almost all the potential limpet species reported for Argentina. However, there are notables differences in prevalence of C. garthi on each host, which suggest that the symbiont might prefer species of Crepidula over the others genera (Trochita and Bostrycapulus). Additionally, there exists an apparent relationship between host size and prevalence (e.g., Crepidula cachimilla, the limpet with the highest prevalence, is clearly larger than the others hosts). Perhaps it is premature to conclude that the size of the host might be of benefit for the symbiont, but it is a hypothesis worthy of being explored.