Turbellarians parasites of mollusks of commercial importance in the South Atlantic

BRUSA FRANCISCO; DAMBORENEA MARÍA CRISTINA

Diepenbeek (Belgica)

Simposio; XI International Symposium on Flatworm Biology; 2009

Turbellarians are not frequently cited as parasites, not because they are not very common, but because their search and identification require non routine surveys. Likewise, great attention has not been given to their study because they do not cause evident pathologic damage in the hosts. Paravortex nicolli described by Szidat in 1965 is the first species mentioned in southwestern Atlantic associated to a bivalve. The revision of the species of Paravortex parasiting mollusks has been recently assured and a new species parasiting Mesodesma mactroides from Uruguay was described Nowadays, turbellarian parasites of Panopea abbreviata, Pododesmus rudi, Mytilus edulis and Gairmardia trapesina are being studied. Turbellarian rabdocels were found which would belong to different Paravortex species; they showed aggregated distribution and low intensities. Likewise, turbellarians were observed in P. abbreviata but not in Ensis macha, taking into account that both species overlap their distribution in soft beds. In the same way, the turbellarians present in P. rudi also seem to show host specificity, since turbellarians have not been found in Ostrea puelchana even though both bivalves were collected cemented to one another