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A tapeworm’s life cycle links Arctic sea ducks and barnacles

Research: Ecology, Evolution & taxonomy, Disease, parasites & microbiology

Tapeworms can connect animals that occupy different parts of a coastal ecosystem. A study of Fimbriarioides intermedia and F. lintoni examined adult worms in sea ducks from northern Russia and larval stages in barnacles from Arctic waters.

Genetic analyses supported treating the two tapeworms as distinct species. They also matched larval F. intermedia from the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides with adult worms from eiders. Barnacles host the parasite’s larval stage, while sea ducks carry its adult stage, linking two hosts in its life cycle.

Genetic variants of F. intermedia from the Barents, Pechora and White seas and the Sea of Okhotsk indicated that the sampled regions share one population. The study also identified Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca) as a previously unrecognised host of F. lintoni. Adult worms were examined in Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) and Velvet Scoter.

The authors link the parasite’s broad Arctic distribution to sea ducks’ long-distance coastal migrations and the near-circumpolar distribution of its barnacle hosts. Together, these hosts can connect the parasite’s life cycle across distant northern seas.

Sources and image credit

  1. Fimbriarioides intermedia and F. lintoni (Cestoda: Hymenolepididae): molecular phylogeny, species status, and transmission in Arctic coastal ecosystemsPrimærkildens tidsskriftside og sammendrag. Bekrefter publiseringsdatoen, arter, verter, studieområder og hovedfunn. Fullteksten var ikke tilgjengelig i det verifiserte kildegrunnlaget.
  2. Fimbriarioides intermedia and F. lintoni: PubMed recordBibliografisk oppføring som bekrefter artikkelidentitet og dato; tidsskriftartikkelen er primærkilden til funnene.

Image: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative photograph. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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