Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:59:32.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diversity of reproductive behaviour in platyhelminth parasites: insemination in some benedeniine (capsalid) monogeneans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

G. C. Kearn  and
I. D. Whittington
G. C. Kearn
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
I. D. Whittington
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Considerable diversity has been found in the reproductive behaviour of benedeniine (capsalid) monogenean parasites. Mating has been observed in Benedenia sp. 1 from the gills of Lutjanus carponatatus; externally attached spermatophores are not involved and parasites indulge in mutual cross-insemination with intromission. In contrast, there is evidence of spermatophore involvement in Benedenia sp. 2 from the fins of Lethrinus miniatus; mating was not observed but an individual was found carrying an external ovoid spermatophore attached by a stalk lodged in the vagina. In specimens of Benedeniella macrocolpa and B. posterocolpa, in which the male reproductive system was functional and the female system not fully developed, the everted cirrus was seen to be lodged in the parasite's own uterus, with, in some individuals, the tip of the cirrus inside the ootype. This is the first time that the copulatory organ has been observed inside the female reproductive tract of the same individual, not just in benedeniines but in monogeneans in general, and is also the first demonstration that monogeneans are capable of self-insemination via the uterine route.

Keywords

platyhelminth parasitesreproductionbehaviourmonogeneansmatinginsemination
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 104 , Issue 3 , June 1992 , pp. 489 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Grant, E. (1987). Fishes of Australia. Scarborough, Australia: E. M. Grant Pty Ltd. Publishers.Google Scholar
Hargis, W. J. JR. (1955). Monogenetic trematodes of Gulf of Mexico fishes. Part V. The superfamily Capsaloidea. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 74, 203–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyman, L. (1951). The Invertebrates: Platyhelminths and Rhynchocoela–the Acoelomate Bilateria. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.Google Scholar
Jackson, H. C. & Tinsley, R. C. (1988). The capacity for viable egg production by the monogenean Protopolystoma xenopodis in single and multiple infections. International Journal for Parasitology 18, 585–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M. K. (1989). Ultrastructure of the cirrus pouch of Cylindrotaenia hickmani (Jones, 1985) (Cestoda, Nematotaeniidae). International Journal for Parasitology 19, 919–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1963). The egg, oncomiracidium and larval development of Entobdella soleae, a monogenean skin parasite of the common sole. Parasitology 53, 435–47.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1965). The biology of Leptocotyle minor, a skin parasite of the dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula. Parasitology 55, 473–80.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1967). The life-cycles and larval development of some acanthocotylids (Monogenea) from Plymouth rays. Parasitology 57, 157–67.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1970). The production, transfer and assimilation of spermatophores by Entobdella soleae, a monogenean skin parasite of the common sole. Parasitology 60, 301–11.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1985). Observations on egg production in the monogenean Entobdella soleae. International Journal for Parasitology 15, 187–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1986). The eggs of monogeneans. Advances in Parasitology 25, 175–273.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1992). Mating in the capsalid monogenean Benedenia seriolae, a skin parasite of the yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata, in Japan. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory (in the Press).Google Scholar
Lambert, A., Lebrun, N. & Renaud, F. (1987). L'étrange reproduction d'un ver parasite. La Recherche 18, 1548–51.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, J. & Euzet, L. (1964). Spermatophores in the monogenean Entobdella diadema Monticelli from the skin of sting-rays, with a note on the taxonomy of the parasite. Parasitology 54, 337–44.Google Scholar
Macdonald, S. & Caley, J. (1975). Sexual reproduction in the monogenean Diclidophora merlangi: tissue penetration by sperms. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 45, 323–34.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. A. (1973). The life-cycle of Prosorhynchus crucibulum (Rudolphi, 1819) Odhner, 1905, and a comparison of its cercaria with that of Prosorhynchus squamatus Odhner, 1905. Parasitology 66, 133–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nollen, P. M. (1968). Autoradiographic studies on reproduction in Philophthalmus megalurus (Cort, 1914) (Trematoda). Journal of Parasitology 54, 43–8.Google Scholar
Nollen, P. M. (1978). Studies on the reproductive system of Philophthalmus gralli using techniques of transplantation and autoradiography. Journal of Parasitology 64, 613–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Odhner, T. (1905). Die Trematoden des arktischen Gebietes. Fauna Arctica 4, 289–372.Google Scholar
Randall, J. E., Allen, G. R. & Steene, R. C. (1990). The Complete Diver's and Fisherman's Guide to Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst, Australia: Crawford House Press.Google Scholar
Silan, P., Euzet, L. & Maillard, C. (1983). La reproduction chez Diplectanum aequans (Monogenea, Monopisthocotylea). Nouvelles données sur l'anatomie du complexe génital et son fonctionnement. Bulletin de la Société Française de Parasitologie 1, 31–6.Google Scholar
Short, R. B. (1952 a). Sex studies on Schistosomatium douthitti (Cort, 1914) Price, 1931 (Trematoda: Schistosomatidae). American Midland Naturalist 47, 1–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Short, R. B. (1952 b). Uniparental miracidia of Schistosomatium douthitti and their progeny (Trematoda, Schistosomatidae). American Midland Naturalist 48, 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. & Owen, R. W. (1975). Studies on the biology of Protopolystoma xenopodis (Monogenoidea): the oncomiracidium and life-cycle. Parasitology 71, 445–63.Google Scholar
Whittington, I. D. & Barton, D. P. (1990). A new genus of monogenean parasites (Capsalidae: Benedeniinae) from stingrays (Rajiformes: Dasyatidae) with a description of a new species from the long-tailed stingray Himantura uarnak Forsskål from Queensland, Australia. Journal of Natural History 24, 327–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H. H. & Mcvicar, A. (1968). Sperm transfer in Tetraphyllidea (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda). Nytt Magasin for Zoologi 16, 61–71.Google Scholar