Because of different reported effects of parasitism on the accumulation of metals in fish, it is important to consider parasites while interpreting bioaccumulation data from biomonitoring programmes. Accordingly, the first step is to take parasitism into consideration when simulating metal bioaccumulation in the fish host under laboratory conditions. In the present study, the accumulation of me...

The parasite faunas of the black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) and the pied stilt (H. h. leucocephalus ) in New Zealand were investigated. The alimentary tracts of eleven black stilts, and three entire pied stilts were examined for the presence of parasites, particularly helminths, and a number of carcasses were surveyed for the presence of ectoparasites. Faecal samples were taken from capt...

A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to investigate the possibility of post-cyclic transmission in Pomphorhynchus laevis (Müller, 1776). Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum) were exposed to P. laevis in naturally infected Cottus gobio Linnaeus, Noemacheilus barbatulus (Linnaeus), Phoxinus phoxinus (Linnaeus) and Leuciscus cephalus (Linnaeus) and sacrificed one month after inf...

One hundred eighty-three woodpeckers of eight species collected in Louisiana were examined for Acanthocephala. Only the red-bellied woodpecker, Centurus carolinus, was infected. One of 53 was parasitized by an irrunature specimen of Mediorhynchus grandis; three by Centrorhynchus spinosus; 12 by Mediorhynchus centurorum sp. n. The new species of Mediorhynchus is distinguished by a trunk which is...

-A model that weighs the energetic cost of parasitism for a predator against the energetic value of prey items that transmit the parasite to the predator suggests that there is often no selective pressure to avoid parasitized prey. This offers an explanation for why parasites so frequently exploit predators and prey as definitive and intermediate hosts, respectively. Furthermore, predators may ...

A revised six-kingdom system of life is presented, down to the level of infraphylum. As in my 1983 system Bacteria are treated as a single kingdom, and eukaryotes are divided into only five kingdoms: Protozoa, Animalia, Fungi, Plantae and Chromista. Intermediate high level categories (superkingdom, subkingdom, branch, infrakingdom, superphylum, subphylum and infraphylum) are extensively used to...

It is a pleasure and an honor to introduce Armand Kuris as the 2010 recipient of the Clark P. Read Mentor Award. This award honors extraordinary leadership in training young scientists and fledging budding parasitologists. It targets individuals who develop strong parasitology research and education at their institution. Armand has spent over 35 years at UC Santa Barbara passionately doing both...

From November 1997 to June 1998, 3,118 specimens of Echinogammarus stammeri (Karaman, 1931) (Amphipoda) were collected from the River Brenta (Northern Italy) and examined for larval helminths. Larvae of Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782) singly infected the hemocoel of 23 (0.74%) crustaceans; all these larvae were cystacanth stages. This is the first record of Polymorphus minutus in E. stammeri....

There are a variety of ways to assess the environmental impacts on parasites (Lafferty D. 1997: Parasitol. Today 13: 251-255). Recent studies on endoparasites of fish have revealed that several helminths (mainly acanthocephalans, and to a lesser degree tapeworms) from the intestine of their definitive hosts bioconcentrate heavy metals above the values detected in host tissues (review in Sures B...

The present study describes the ultrastructure of the interface between naturally infected isopods, Asellus aquaticus (L.), from the River Brenta (northern Italy) and larvae of Acanthocephalus anguillae (Müller, 1780) Lühe, 1911. A fully developed larva of this helminth occupies the host’s hemocoel and induces displacement of its internal organs. A transparent acellular envelope ranging in thic...