Two new Aggregata species (Apicomplexa: Aggregatidae) infecting Octopus tehuelchus and Enteroctopus megalocyathus (Mollusca: Octopodidae) in Patagonia, Argentina

SARDELLA, N.H.; RE, M.E.; TIMI, J.T.

JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY

Allen Press, Inc.

Lugar: Lawrence, Kansas; Año: 2000 vol. 86 p. 1107 - 1113

0022-3395

During a long-term study caried out between 1981 and 1996 on the biological and fishery aspects of octopuses inhabiting the Gulfs of San Matias, San Jose and Nuevo, Patagonia, Argentina, two new species of Aggregata (Aplicomplexa: Aggregatidae) were found in the digestive tracts of Octopus tehuelchus d´Orbigny, 1834 (prevalence 72%) and Enteroctopus megalocyatus (Gould, 1852) (prevalence 77%). Both species can be distinguished from other congeners on the basis of their hosts, the diameters of sporocysts, and number and lenght of sporozoites. Despite overlap in the distributions of the two hosts species in the area covered in this study, both Aggregata new species exhibited high host specificity.