Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris
Abstract A survey for the presence of nematodes on the skin of the native Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris from Crystal River, Florida was conducted during annual manatee health assessments. A putative isolate of Cutidiplogaster manati (Diplogastridae) and two other nematodes belongin...
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doaj-2c82f6590cc34fa0b571d839c37cbcb22021-01-17T12:34:20ZengNature Publishing GroupScientific Reports2045-23222021-01-0111111110.1038/s41598-020-79879-7Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostrisRafael Gonzalez0Natsumi Kanzaki1Cathy Beck2William H. Kern3Robin M. Giblin-Davis4Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFASFort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFASWetland and Aquatic Research Center, United States Geologic SurveyFort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFASFort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFASAbstract A survey for the presence of nematodes on the skin of the native Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris from Crystal River, Florida was conducted during annual manatee health assessments. A putative isolate of Cutidiplogaster manati (Diplogastridae) and two other nematodes belonging to the same family were recovered from mid-dorsal tail skin-scrapings from all sampled winter-collected healthy wild adult manatees during two successive years (2018–2019). Qualitative abundance estimates of these three species of diplogastrid nematodes suggest that an average wild Florida manatee adult might possess between 30,000 and 120,000 nematodes on its tail dorsum and that the entire body dorsum including the tail might possess 160,000–640,000 nematodes in roughly equal ratios. Attempts to culture these nematodes on a variety of different culture media were unsuccessful but examination of the mouth (stomatal) morphology suggests specialized feeding on microbes such as diatoms or predation on other nematodes. No skin lesions were observed during the 2018–2019 samplings suggesting that under normal conditions these nematodes are highly specialized free-living epibionts of the skin that are tightly bound to this niche and horizontally transferred between individual manatees in an analogous fashion to human skin mites (Demodex folliculorum and D. brevis). Molecular phylogenetic inferences using sequences of near full length SSU and D2–D3 expansion segments of LSU rRNA genes revealed a putative new morphospecies in Cutidiplogaster sister to C. manati that was monophyletic with several named Mononchoides species, and another putative new morphospecies that formed a clade with several undescribed species similar in appearance to Mononchoides as well as Tylopharyx, Eudiplogasterium, Paroigolaimella and Sachsia.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79879-7 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Rafael Gonzalez Natsumi Kanzaki Cathy Beck William H. Kern Robin M. Giblin-Davis |
spellingShingle |
Rafael Gonzalez Natsumi Kanzaki Cathy Beck William H. Kern Robin M. Giblin-Davis Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris Scientific Reports |
author_facet |
Rafael Gonzalez Natsumi Kanzaki Cathy Beck William H. Kern Robin M. Giblin-Davis |
author_sort |
Rafael Gonzalez |
title |
Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris |
title_short |
Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris |
title_full |
Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris |
title_fullStr |
Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nematode epibionts on skin of the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris |
title_sort |
nematode epibionts on skin of the florida manatee, trichechus manatus latirostris |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
series |
Scientific Reports |
issn |
2045-2322 |
publishDate |
2021-01-01 |
description |
Abstract A survey for the presence of nematodes on the skin of the native Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris from Crystal River, Florida was conducted during annual manatee health assessments. A putative isolate of Cutidiplogaster manati (Diplogastridae) and two other nematodes belonging to the same family were recovered from mid-dorsal tail skin-scrapings from all sampled winter-collected healthy wild adult manatees during two successive years (2018–2019). Qualitative abundance estimates of these three species of diplogastrid nematodes suggest that an average wild Florida manatee adult might possess between 30,000 and 120,000 nematodes on its tail dorsum and that the entire body dorsum including the tail might possess 160,000–640,000 nematodes in roughly equal ratios. Attempts to culture these nematodes on a variety of different culture media were unsuccessful but examination of the mouth (stomatal) morphology suggests specialized feeding on microbes such as diatoms or predation on other nematodes. No skin lesions were observed during the 2018–2019 samplings suggesting that under normal conditions these nematodes are highly specialized free-living epibionts of the skin that are tightly bound to this niche and horizontally transferred between individual manatees in an analogous fashion to human skin mites (Demodex folliculorum and D. brevis). Molecular phylogenetic inferences using sequences of near full length SSU and D2–D3 expansion segments of LSU rRNA genes revealed a putative new morphospecies in Cutidiplogaster sister to C. manati that was monophyletic with several named Mononchoides species, and another putative new morphospecies that formed a clade with several undescribed species similar in appearance to Mononchoides as well as Tylopharyx, Eudiplogasterium, Paroigolaimella and Sachsia. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79879-7 |
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