Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:04:45.630Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Population dynamics of a thelastomatid nematode of cockroaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

S. Zervos
S. Zervos
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 1, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Blatticola monandros Zervos lives in the hind gut of the endemic New Zealand cockroach Parellipsidion pachycercum Johns. A field survey showed that infection prevalence was high (54 %) in small nymphs and increased further with cockroach size to a maximum (92 %) in penultimate nymphs. Variance to mean ratios and the Chi-square test for goodness of fit of a Poisson distribution provide strong evidence that the distribution of the nematode was not clumped (over-dispersed) or Poisson (random) but under-dispersed in most host size classes. The modal infrapopulation type consisted of 1 adult male and 1 adult female. Other infrapopulations were transitional to this type. Monogamous infrapopulations increased in prevalence with increased host size. Juvenile males were uncommon and probably develop faster into adults than juvenile females. Infrapopulations with 2 juvenile males were very rare and no cockroach contained 2 adult males, although some contained 2 adult females. Seasonal variations in prevalence and infrapopulation structure were slight over a 3 year period, except during one unusually dry summer. During the drought, prevalence of monogamous infrapopulations and of transitional infrapopulations were lowest, while prevalence of single-worm and single-sex infrapopulations were greatest. It is evident that competition between females reduces fecundity. When only 1 adult female nematode is present in an adult cockroach, more eggs are produced than the total produced if 2 adult females are present. Eggs were produced cyclically with short periods of high egg production interspersed with several days of very low or no egg production. Most eggs produced on any one day were attached to the outer surface of only 1 of the up-to-6 faecal pellets produced by the host/day. Mechanisms which may regulate infrapopulations and control reproductive competition and cyclical egg production are discussed. It is suggested that B. monandros regulates its own infrapopulation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 96 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 353 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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

REFERENCES

Adamson, M. L. (1983). L'haplodiploidie des Oxyurida. Incidence de ce phénomène dans le cycle évolutif. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 59, 387–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. M. (1982 a). Parasite dispersion patterns: generative mechanisms and dynamic consequences. In Aspects of Parasitology (A Festschrift dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Parasitology of McGill University (ed. Meerovitch, E.)), pp. 1–40. Montreal: McGill University.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. M. (1982 b). Epidemiology. In Modern Parasitology (ed. Cox, F. E. G.), pp. 204–51. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. M. & Gordon, D. M. (1982). Processes influencing the distribution of parasite numbers within host populations with special emphasis on parasite-induced host mortalities. Parasitology 85, 373–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basir, M. A. (1941). A new species of the nematode genus Blattophila Cobb, 1920 from a cockroach. Current Science (Bangalore) 10, 443–5.Google Scholar
Basir, M. A. (1942). Protrellina phyllodromi sp. nov., a new nematode parasite of the cockroach Phyllodromia humbertiana Sauss. Current Science (Bangalore) 5, 195–7.Google Scholar
Basir, M. A. (1948). Chitwoodiella ovofilamenta gen. et sp. nov., a nematode parasite of Gryllotalpa. Canadian Journal of Research 26, 4–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basir, M. A. (1951). The modes of egg-laying in the nematode family Thelastomatidae. Journal of Parasitology 37, 15–16 (Suppl.).Google Scholar
Basir, M. A. (1956). Oxyuroid parasites of Arthropoda. 1. Thelastomatidae. 2. Oxyuridae. Zoologica 38, 1–79 (Original-Abhandlungen aus dem Gesamtgebiet der Zoologie).Google Scholar
Bell, W. J. & Adiyodi, K. G. (1982). The American Cockroach. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowie, J. Y. (1983). The symbionts of some indigenous New Zealand millipedes. Unpublished MSc. thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Bradley, D. J. (1972). Regulation of parasite populations. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 66, 697–708.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradley, D. J. (1974). Stability in host–parasite systems. In Ecological Stability (ed. Usher, M. B. and Williamson, M. H.), pp. 71–87. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caullery, M. & Comas, M. (1928). Le déterminisme du sexe chez un Nématode (Paramermis contorta), parasite des larves de Chironomes. Comptes rendus, Académie des sciences, Paris 186, 646–8.Google Scholar
Christie, J. R. (1929). Some observations of sex in the Mermithidae. Journal of Experimental Zoology 53, 59–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coil, W. H. (1963). The life cycle of a dioecious tapeworm, Gyrocoelia pagollae Cable and Meyers, 1956. Journal of Parasitology 49, 38–9 (Suppl.).Google Scholar
Crofton, H. D. (1971). A quantitative approach to parasitism. Parasitology 62, 179–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, N. A., Anderson, R. M., Gyorkos, T. W. & Ghadirian, E. (1982). The population biology and control of Ascaris lumbricoides in a rural community in Iran. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 76, 187–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobrovolny, C. G. & Ackert, J. E. (1934). The life history of Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy), a nematode of cockroaches Parasitology 26, 468–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, C. (1974). Studies on the immunity of sheep to Oesophagostomum columbianum: effects of different and successive doses of larvae on worm burdens, worm growth and fecundity. Parasitology 68, 313–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donald, A. D. & Waller, P. J. (1982). Problems and prospects in the control of helminthiasis in sheep. In Biology and Control of Endoparasites (ed. Symons, L. E. A., Donald, A. D. and Dineen, J. K.), pp. 157–86. Sydney: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dunsmore, J. D. (1960). Retarded development of Ostertagia species in sheep. Nature, London 186, 986–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esch, G. W., Gibbons, J. W. & Bourque, J. E. (1975). An analysis of the relationship between stress and parasitism. American Midland Naturalist 93, 339–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ezenwa, A. O. & Carter, N. E. (1975). Influence of multiple infections on sex ratios of mermithid parasites of blackflies. Environmental Entomology 4, 142–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farooqui, M. N. (1970). Some known and new genera and species of the Family Thelastomatidae Travassos, 1929. Revista di Parassitologia 31, 195–214.Google ScholarPubMed
Gordon, R. (1970). A neuroendocrine relationship between the nematode Hammerschmidtiella diesingi and its insect host, Blatta orientalis. Parasitology 61, 101–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halvorsen, O. (1976). Negative interactions amongst parasites. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R.), pp. 99–114. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Hominick, W. M. & Davey, K. G. (1972 a). The influence of host stage and sex upon the size and composition of the population of two species of thelastomatids parasitic in the hindgut of Periplaneta americana. Canadian Journal of Zoology 50, 947–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hominick, W. M. & Davey, K. G. (1972 b). Reduced nutrition as the factor controlling the population of pinworms following endocrine gland removal in Periplaneta americana L. Canadian Journal of Zoology 50, 1421–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hominick, W. M. & Davey, K. G. (1973). Food and the spatial distribution of adult female pinworms parasitic in the hindgut of Periplaneta americana L. International Journal for Parasitology 3, 759–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hugot, J. P., Bain, O. & Cassone, J. (1982). Insémination traumatique et tube de ponte chez l'Oxyure parasite du Lapin domestique. Comptes rendus Académie des Sciences, Paris 294, 707–10.Google Scholar
Jarecka, L. (1960). Separation of sexes and quantitative regulation in cestodes of the genus Diploposthe Jacobi, 1896 (Cestoda: Diplopostidae). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences, Série des Sciences Biologiques 8, 155–7.Google Scholar
Jarry, D. T. (1964). Les Oxyuröides de quelques arthropodes dans le Midi de la France. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 39, 381–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kassai, T. (1982). Handbook of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nematoda). Budapest: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Akademia Kiado.Google Scholar
Kendall, S. B. & Harding, J. D. J. (1970). The biology of Hyostrongylus rubidus. II. Repeated infection in young pigs. Journal of Comparative Pathology 80, 145–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C. R. (1975). Ecological Animal Parasitology. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1977). The regulation of fish parasite populations. In Regulation of Parasite Populations (ed. Esch, G. W.), pp. 63–109. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1982). Biotic factors. In Parasites, Their World and Ours (ed. Mettrick, D. F. and Desser, S. S.), pp. 293–302. Amsterdam: Elsevier Biomedical Press.Google Scholar
Keymer, A. E. (1982). Density-dependent mechanisms in the regulation of intestinal helminth populations. Parasitology 84, 573–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A. E. & Anderson, R. M. (1979). The dynamics of infection of Tribolium confusum by Hymenolepis diminuta: the influence of infective-stage density and spatial distribution. Parasitology 79, 195–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krupp, I. M. (1961). Effects of crowding and of superinfection on habitat selection and egg production in Ancylostoma caninum. Journal of Parasitology 47, 957–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lackie, A. M. (1980). Invertebrate immunity. Parasitology 80, 393–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, D. L. (1961). Studies on the origin of the sticky coat on the eggs of the nematode Thelastoma bulhõesi (Magalhães, 1900). Parasitology 51, 379–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, D. L. (1974). On the occurrence of dimorphic males in Thelastoma attenuatum Leidy, 1849. Helminthologica 15, 839–44.Google Scholar
Leibersperger, E. (1960). Die Oxyuroidee der europäischen Arthropoden. Parasitologische Schriftenreihe 11, 1–150.Google Scholar
Margolis, L., Esch, G. W., Holmes, J. C., Kuris, A. M. & Schad, G. A. (1982). The use of ecological terms in Parasitology. (Report of an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists.) Journal of Parasitology 68, 131–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michel, J. F. (1967). Regulation of egg output of populations of Ostertagia ostertagi. Nature, London 215, 1001–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nadakal, A. M. & Nayar, K. K. (1968). Neural and hormonal influence on the fecundity and egg-laying of certain oxyurid nematodes inhabiting the hind gut of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana L. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 6, 29–32.Google Scholar
Parenti, U. (1965). Male and female influence of adult individuals on undifferentiated larvae of the parasitic nematode Paramermis contorta. Nature, London 207, 1105–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peregrine, P. C. (1974). The effects of host diet on Thelastoma attenuatum (Nematoda: Thelastomatidae) populations in cockroaches. Journal of Helminthology 48, 47–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, J. J. (1972). Factors affecting sex ratios of a mermithid parasite of mosquitoes. Journal of Nematology 4, 83–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Poinar, G. O. (1975). Entomogenous Nematodes. Leiden: E. J. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, P. N. & Rao, V. J. (1965 a). A description of a new species of the nematode genus Blattophila Cobb, 1920 (Thelastomatidae). Papéis Avulsos do Departmento de Zoologia São Paulo 18, 61–3.Google Scholar
Rao, P. N. & Rao, V. J. (1965 b). A description of a new species of the genus Hammerschmidtiella Chitwood, 1932 (Nematoda: Oxyuridae). Revista di Parassitologia 26, 9–12.Google Scholar
Riddiford, L. M. (1975). Host hormones and insect parasites. In Invertebrate Immunity (ed. Maramorosch, K. and Shope, R. E.). pp. 339–353. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, A. S. (1945). Hammerschmidtiella neyrai n. sp. en Periplaneta orientalis L., en Granada. Revista Iberica de Parasitologia, Tomo Extraordinario, Homenage del C.R. López-Neyra, pp. 213–15.Google Scholar
Scharrer, B. (1946). The relationship between corpora allata and reproductive organs in adult Leucophaea maderae (Orthoptera). Endocrinology 38, 46–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scharrer, B. & von Harnack, M. (1958). Histophysiological studies on the corpus allatum of Leucophaea maderae. I. Normal life cycle in male and female adults. Biological Bulletin 115, 508–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Self, J. T. & Pipkin, J. S. (1966). Sex distribution of the dioecious cestode Shipleya inermis Fuhrmann, 1908 in Dowitchers. Journal of Parasitology 52, 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southwood, T. R. E. (1978). Ecological Methods. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Upton, S. J., Crawford, C. S. & Hoffman, R. L. (1983). A new species of thelastomatid (Nematoda: Thelastomatidae) from the desert millipede, Orthoporus ornatus (Diplopoda:Spirostreptidae). Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 50, 69–82.Google Scholar
Van Waerebeke, D. (1978). Description de Cephalobellus ovumglutinosus n. sp. et de Leidynema portentosae n. sp. (Nematoda:Thelastomatidae), parasites intestinaux de blattes, et redéfinition du genre Leidynema Schwenk, 1926 (in Travossos, 1929). Revue de Nématologie 1, 151–63.Google Scholar
Wakelin, D. (1976). Host responses. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R.), pp. 115–41. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Welch, H. E. (1963). Nematode infections. In Insect Pathology, An Advanced Treatise, vol. 2 (ed. Steinhaus, E. A.), pp. 363–92. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, H. E. (1965). Entomopholic nematodes. Annual Review of Entomology 10, 275–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wharton, D. A. (1980). Studies on the function of the oxyurid egg-shell. Parasitology 81, 103–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yong, W. K. & Dobson, C. (1982). Population dynamics of Angiostrongylus cantonensis during primary infections in rats. Parasitology 85, 399–409.Google Scholar
Zervos, S. (1983). Blatticola monandros n.sp. (Nematoda: Thelastomatidae) from the blattellid cockroach Parellipsidion pachycercum. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 10, 329–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zervos, S. (1984). Seasonality in a field population of two New Zealand cockroaches (Blattodea). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 11, 307–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zervos, S. (1988 a). Evidence for population self-regulation, reproductive competition and arrhenotoky in a thelastomatid nematode of cockroaches. Parasitology 96, 369–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zervos, S. (1988 b). Population regulation in parasitic nematodes (Thelostomatidae) of cockroaches. New Zealand Journal of Zoology (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar