Life-history trade-offs in a generalist digenean from cetaceans: the role of host specificity and environmental factors.

BACKGROUND: Adults and larvae of generalist parasites are exposed to diverse hosts and local environmental conditions throughout their life cycles, thus local adaptation is expected to occur through phenotypic plasticity and/or natural selection. We investigated how the combined effect of cryptic host specificity and local selective pressures could shape reproductive traits of a putative generalist parasite in the oceanic realm. METHODS: The LSU rDNA, ITS2 and the mt-COI of individuals of the digenean Pholeter gastrophilus (Kossack, 1910) Odhner, 1914 (Heterophyidae Leiper, 1909) from oceanic striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba Meyen, and coastal bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus Montagu, in the western Mediterranean were used to elucidate whether worms were conspecific. Infection parameters were compared between both dolphin species. General Linear Mixed Models were used to analyse the influence of host species on four reproductive traits of P. gastrophilus: body size, maturity stage (non-gravid/gravid), egg size, and number of eggs in utero. AIC values were used to rank competing models, and p-values to assess the effect of specific predictors. RESULTS: Evidence indicated that worms collected from both dolphin species were conspecific. All worms collected were gravid and infection parameters did not differ between dolphin species. However, body size and egg size of individuals of P. gastrophilus were significantly larger in striped dolphins. The number of eggs in utero did not significantly differ between dolphin species but, for a given body size, worms in bottlenose dolphins harboured more eggs. A trade-off between egg size and egg number was found in worms from both dolphin species, with a higher slope in striped dolphins. CONCLUSIONS: Apparently, striped dolphin is a more suitable host for P. gastrophilus, but reproductive investment seems to be adapted to the habitat where the life-cycle develops. Worms from striped dolphins likely face the problem of finding intermediate hosts in the oceanic realm and apparently invest into offspring size to enhance the early survival of larvae and the potential to multiply asexually within the first intermediate host. The small-sized worms from bottlenose dolphins would be adapted to reproduce early because of higher adult mortality, generating smaller and numerous eggs in a coastal habitat where chances of transmission are presumably higher.

Dissections of fresh skulls confirm low prevalence of Troglotrema acutum (Trematoda: Troglotrematidae) in German badgers (Meles meles).

We examined 131 European badgers Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) from 67 localities in central Germany for the presence of the cranial trematode Troglotrema acutum, as previous studies based on museum skulls might have underestimated the prevalence of the parasite in this host. We detected the flatworm in only three individuals that originated from the Rhoen Mountains (Thurigina and Bavaria). While the cranium of one host individual showed the lesions and the sponge-like widening of certain regions of the skullcap that are typical of a T. acutum infection, the skulls of the two remaining badgers did not show any deformations. The three badgers were infected by eight, 20, and 49 T. acutum individuals, respectively. Eggs of the trematode parasite were detected in the paranasal sinuses of two badgers. While badgers infected with T. acutum may not show any surface bone lesions, the results of the present study do not contradict the conclusion that the badger is only an accidental host of T. acutum.