INVESTIGADORES
LEONARDI Maria Soledad
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The life begins when the host is ashore: habitat use by a louse infecting a diving mammal
Autor/es:
M.S. LEONARDI; E.A. CRESPO; P. MATEU; J.A. RAGA; F.J. AZNAR
Lugar:
Melbourne, Australia
Reunión:
Congreso; XIIth International Congress of Parasitology; 2010
Institución organizadora:
World Federation of Parasitologists
Resumen:
Anoplurans (Phthiraptera) parasite a wide variety of mammalian hosts, being adapted to use their pelage as environment. As habitat, mammals are dynamic and pose features related with their physiology, behaviour and ecology that affect the distribution and survivorship of the lice parasitizing them. In the particular case of pinnipeds, lice (Family Echinophthiriidae) are adapted to survive alternating between two different environments with contrasting features. Previous works in habitat selection of echinophthiriids were conducted in pinnipeds that breed in extremely cold conditions, were flippers are usually the preferred site of lice due to host’ thermoregulatory behaviour. However, we studied habitat selection of Antarctophthirus microchir off South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) from Patagonia, were temperature in the austral summer breeding season arise 40ºC. We found a preference for the belly area, being the body region of the pup where is found not only the greatest number of lice, but also the highest density. This preference could be related with the negative phototropism, being rarely exposed to sunlight. Second, there is a strong preference for oviposition site, which is interesting by the fact that while all stages of A. microchir are more in the belly, ovigerous females and eggs were found in greater amounts in the dorsal area. This is because is the area of the body of the pup where conditions are optimal for egg development: long hair and increased exposure to solar radiation creates a temperature gradient ranging from 41.1 º C in hair tip to 34 º C in the skin. This area of the body also provides the right conditions of humidity, and being the most exposed to sunlight, it dries faster.