Rotifers from inland water bodies of continental Ecuador and Galápagos Islands: An updated checklist.

We present an updated checklist of the rotifer fauna from inland aquatic habitats in continental Ecuador and the Galápagos islands based on published rotifer records found in the literature. The checklist summarizes the status of the current taxonomic and faunistic knowledge on rotifers in Ecuador, updates the nomenclature, and reports the regions where each species has been found in the country. A total of 287 valid species (269 monogononts and 18 bdelloids was found. The Ecuadorian region with the highest number of records was Amazonia (228) followed by the Coastal region (139) and the Andes (121), whereas in the Galápagos Archipelago only 40 species have been recorded. Studies of the rotifer fauna of the areas are scarce and quite recent, pointing to important gaps in our knowledge on taxonomy and biogeography of Ecuadorian rotifers.

Ectoparasitic copepod infestation on a wild population of Neotropical catfish Sciades herzbergii Bloch, 1794: Histological evidences of lesions on host.

We analyzed the infestation of the attached copepod species Lepeophtheirus sp on a wild population of Sciades herzbergii. The infestation and occurrence of attached copepods were related to body size, maturity and sex of host and the presence of lesions on fish skin were described. In 61 fish specimens (37 males and 24 females), total of 218 ectoparasitic copepods, including 204 mature and 14 immature stages were found. Copepods were attached to different regions of fish body without any regular pattern. The prevalence of infestation was 80.3% and intensity between 1 and 15 copepods/fish. No significant differences were found between sex or maturity and the presence of attached Lepeophtheirus sp. However, a contingency table including both sex and maturity status, and the total number of attached copepod per combined category showed a significant association. A positive correlation was found between body length of fish and intensity of infestation. Similarly, when comparing the infested fish according to group size, we found more copepods on larger individual. Attached copepods were associated with the presence of lesions visible to the naked eye. Histological analyses showed changes in cell architecture when sections of copepod-free tissues and attached copepods were compared.