Bennett Jerusha, McPherson Olivia, Presswell Bronwen
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Parasitol Int. 2021 Feb;80:102185. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2020.102185. Epub 2020 Sep 10.
Data regarding helminth communities can provide insights into health, feeding interactions, behaviour and evolution of their host organisms. Penguins (Spheniscidae) are important components of marine food webs and tracking their helminth communities can be indicative of ecosystem health. New Zealand is home to 5 of the world's 19 penguin species and little is known about their gastrointestinal helminths. Here, we provide the first study on the gastrointestinal helminths of little blue penguins from south-eastern South Island, New Zealand. The helminth community consisted of two species of tapeworm; Tetrabothrius lutzi and Tetrabothrius sp.; three nematode species, Contracaecum eudyptulae, Capillaria sp. and Stegophorus macronectes; two acanthocephalans, Andracantha sigma and Bolbosoma balaenae; and one trematode, Galactosomum otepotiense. The most prevalent parasites were T. lutzi, A. sigma, and C. eudyptulae. This work includes three new host records and five new geographic records. This is the first report of B. balaenae occurring in a host other than a marine mammal. This study adds to our knowledge about the helminth community of New Zealand little blue penguins, and includes new genetic data on helminth species, providing a baseline against which future studies may be compared.
有关蠕虫群落的数据可以为其宿主生物的健康、摄食相互作用、行为和进化提供见解。企鹅（企鹅科）是海洋食物网的重要组成部分，追踪它们的蠕虫群落可以指示生态系统的健康状况。新西兰是世界上19种企鹅中5种的家园，但人们对它们的胃肠道蠕虫知之甚少。在这里，我们首次对来自新西兰南岛东南部的小蓝企鹅的胃肠道蠕虫进行了研究。蠕虫群落由两种绦虫组成；卢氏四槽绦虫和一种未鉴定的四槽绦虫；三种线虫，欧氏对盲囊线虫、一种未鉴定的毛细线虫和巨颈带线虫；两种棘头虫，西格玛安德拉棘头虫和须鲸泡吻棘头虫；以及一种吸虫，奥特波蒂恩乳突吸虫。最常见的寄生虫是卢氏四槽绦虫、西格玛安德拉棘头虫和欧氏对盲囊线虫。这项工作包括三个新的宿主记录和五个新的地理记录。这是须鲸泡吻棘头虫在海洋哺乳动物以外的宿主中出现的首次报告。这项研究增加了我们对新西兰小蓝企鹅蠕虫群落的了解，并包括了蠕虫物种的新基因数据，提供了一个可供未来研究比较的基线。
