Flamingolepis liguloides
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| Flamingolepis liguloides | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Class: | Cestoda |
| Order: | Cyclophyllidea |
| Family: | Hymenolepididae |
| Genus: | Flamingolepis |
| Species: | F. liguloides |
| Binomial name | |
| Flamingolepis liguloides (Gervais, 1847) | |
Flamingolepis liguloides is a parasitic tapeworm of the Cestoda class. There are several tapeworms that are found to infect Artemia; however, F. liguloides is the most prevalent species of infectious tapeworm among Artemia. F. liguloides infects brine shrimp (Artemia) as the intermediate host and flamingos as the definitive host. Effects of the tapeworm in flamingos is unclear, though researchers hypothesize that a high parasitemia could potentially be deadly to the host. The parasite appears to affect the Artemia spp. as it alters the behavior and color of its host.[1]
Artemia can reproduce both sexually and asexually. The life cycle of F. liguloides begins by Artemia ingesting the cestode larva, called oncosphere. It then penetrates the intestinal wall into the hemocoel where it becomes a cysticercoid, or larva with a scolex. The larva reaches maturity in the digestive tract of the flamingo (definitive host). Adult parasites produce eggs, which are released in the feces and into the environment.[2]
Epidemiology
A survey conducted at four sites in southern Spain found the total prevalence of cestode ranging from 45 to 89% in Artemia with 45-77% being infected with Flamingolepis liguloides. High prevalence of F. liguloides can be observed throughout the year in southern Spain. However, this is not the case for all areas. In French saltpans the prevalence of F. liguloides in Artemia populations is much lower in the months of April to October, having a prevalence of around 4.25%. Artemia in saltpans outside the range of flamingos such as the Bulgarian Black Sea coast has a prevalence of almost zero.[3]
Typically host density is indicative of parasitic presence. However, the survey acknowledged that environmental factors are also associated with parasitic presence. Specifically predicting that: temporal variation might structure the cestode community, the most common cestode species in brine shrimp would be those that used the most common bird species as final hosts and that temporal variation in Artemia would track changes in abundance of their final host. Seasonal patterns of infection of F. liguloides showed to have the highest prevalence in June and the lowest in December. Although the waterbird biomass was correlated to strong seasonal patterns, the actual transmission from birds or the removal of infected shrimp showed no significant effect. There was also no clear relationship between cestode and final host abundances. The gender of A. salina did not significantly hinder infection rates of F. liguloides. Showing that seasonal patterns seem to play a big factor in F. liguloides prevalence, whereas other environmental factors may not play as big a role.[4]