Larval digenean communities in Biomphalaria species in two contrasting wetlands from South America.

FERNÁNDEZ M.V.; HAMANN M. I.

DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS

INTER-RESEARCH

Lugar: Oldendorf/Luhe; Año: 2018 vol. 130 p. 159 - 164

0177-5103

A key factor in the colonization probabilities of parasites is the hosts characteristic habitat. Considering that rice fields are simple habitats compared with natural wetlands, we comparatively analyzed the composition of the cercariae communities in Biomphalaria snails in an agricultural and a nonagricultural habitat of Corrientes Province, Argentina. We collected 2,998 Biomphalaria snails from November 2011 to May 2012: B. tenagophila, B. occidentalis, B. peregrina, and B. orbignyi in the nonagricultural habitat and B. straminea in the agricultural habitat. Nine cercaria species were found in the nonagricultural habitat and 12 in the agricultural habitat. The overall parasite prevalence was 9.27 % in the nonagricultural habitat and 7.69 % in the agricultural habitat. The overall prevalence and mean species richness of cercariae showed no significant differences between habitats (P ˃ 0.05). The cercariae communities of the two habitats showed low similarity (38 %), sharing four species. The mean species diversity of cercariae was higher in the nonagricultural habitat (P ˂ 0.05). Our results suggest that rice fields provide conditions for the hosts and cercariae that are somewhat similar to those of nonagricultural wetlands, although the contrasting characteristics of habitats can influence the presence of different intermediate and definitive hosts and consequently impact parasites diversity.