Past, present, and future of the ecological parasitology of Antarctic seals lice

M.S. LEONARDI; S. POLJAK; P. CARLINI; J. GALLIARI; M. BOBINAC; M.E. MÁRQUEZ; J. NEGRETE

Salt Lake City

Conferencia; Internacional Conference on Phthiraptera; 2014

Studies on the ecology and reproductive cycles of echinophthiriids flourished in the decade of 1960 with the pioneer work of Durno Murray. Sucking lice belonging to the family Echinophthiriidae are peculiar among the Anoplura by their morphological, physiological, behavioral and/or ecological adaptations to the amphibious life of their hosts. Murray?s studies are of exceptional value because they found that reproductive cycle of echinophthiriids adjusts precisely to that of their hosts because reproduction, and possibly transmission, of lice can only occur when hosts are on land. However, all these studies were carried out on single or few caged or restrained hosts and for the following 50 years, no advance has been done in the ecology of Antarctic echinophthiriids. In the present work we analyzed, for the first time, under natural condition the infestation parameters of 34 pack-ice seals: 8 Weddell (prevalence= 75%, mean intensity= 7.67), 10 crabeater (prevalence= 40%, mean intensity= 126), and 16 leopard seals (prevalence= 12.5%, mean intensity= 34.5). Accordingly, we observed in the Weddell and the crabeater seals the same pattern described to other pinnipeds i.e. younger host are most infected than older ones. However, the infestation pattern of the leopard seals was quite different. The question that rises is how echinophthiriids lice managed to adapt their reproductive cycle and transmission to the solitaire biology of the leopard seals. The results are also discussed in the light of their evolutionary and ecological implications, establishing the basis of further research.