2025-06-24 北海道大学
寄生されたアサガオクラゲ(生時、矢頭が吸虫)と2種の吸虫類の幼虫(固定後)
<関連情報>
- https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/2025/06/2-69.html
- https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/pdf/250624_pr.pdf
- https://bioone.org/journals/zoological-science/volume-42/issue-4/zs250001/Overlooked-Parasite-Diversity-in-Staurozoa–Two-Species-of-Lepocreadiidae/10.2108/zs250001.short
見落とされていた十文字クラゲ寄生性生物の多様性:アサガオクラゲに寄生するLepocreadiidae科吸虫2種の発見 Overlooked Parasite Diversity in Staurozoa: Two Species of Lepocreadiidae (Trematoda: Digenea) Parasitic in Haliclystus tenuis
Kohta Tsutsui, Keiichi Kakui
Zoological Science Published:18 June 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2108/zs250001
Abstract
Three non-encysted digenean metacercariae were found parasitic in the mesoglea of two of 13 individuals of the staurozoan cnidarian Haliclystus tenuis Kishinouye, 1910 from Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan. The metacercariae comprised two morphospecies (one oval, the other elongate), for which the gross morphology is described. Partial sequences of the 18S and 28S rRNA genes and the internal transcribed spacer 2 region were determined for both species, and a partial sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene was determined for the oval species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed both digeneans to be in the family Lepocreadiidae, a taxon not previously reported from staurozoans. The oval species was a member of the “Diploproctodaeum Clade.” The elongate species was identified as Prodistomum orientale (Layman, 1930), known to use marine fishes in the genus Scomber Linnaeus, 1758 as definitive hosts. Second intermediate hosts of P. orientale known around Australia include five hydrozoan, one scyphozoan (Cnidaria), and one ctenophoran species. This is the first information on a second intermediate host from Japan; however, we cannot rule out the possibility that staurozoans may also be dead-end hosts. Including an opecoelid species previously reported, three digenean species in two families are now known from a single staurozoan species in the small region comprising the northwestern coast of Hokkaido. Future surveys for parasites in other staurozoan species and regions will likely detect additional digeneans and other parasite groups utilizing staurozoans.
