Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T13:16:32.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gastrointestinal helminth parasites of the common wallaroo or euro, Osphranter robustus (Gould) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) from Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2020

I. Beveridge*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia Honorary Associate, South Australian MuseumAdelaide, South Australia, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: I. Beveridge, E-mail: ibeve@unimelb.edu.au

Abstract

The gastrointestinal helminth parasites of 170 common wallaroos or euros, Osphranter robustus (Gould), collected from all mainland states in which the species occurs as well as the Northern Territory, are presented, including previously published data. A total of 65 species of helminths were encountered, including four species of anoplocephalid cestodes found in the bile ducts and small intestine, and 61 species of strongylid nematodes, all but two of which occurring in the stomach, and with the remainder occurring in the terminal ileum, caecum and colon. Among the mainland subspecies of O. robustus, 52 species of helminths were encountered in O. r. robustus, compared with 30 species in O. r. woodwardi and 35 species in O. r. erubescens. Of the parasite species encountered, only 17 were specific to O. robustus, the remaining being shared with sympatric host species. Host-specific species or species occurring in O. robustus at a high prevalence can be classified as follows: widely distributed; restricted to northern Australia; restricted to the northern wallaroo, O. r. woodwardi; found only in the euro, O. r. erubescens; found essentially along the eastern coast of Australia, primarily in O. r. robustus; and species with highly limited regional distributions. The data currently available suggest that the acquisition of a significant number of parasites is due to co-grazing with other macropodids, while subspeciation in wallaroos as well as climatic variables may have influenced the diversification of the parasite fauna.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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

Arundel, JH, Beveridge, I and Presidente, PJA (1979) Parasites and pathological findings in enclosed and free-living populations of Macropus rufus (Desmarest) (Marsupialia) at Menindee, New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 6, 361379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arundel, JH, Dempster, KJ, Harrigan, KE and Black, R (1990) Epidemiological observations on the helminth parasites of Macropus giganteus Shaw in Victoria. Australian Wildlife Research 17, 3951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aussavy, M, Bernardin, E, Corrigan, A, Hufschmid, J and Beveridge, I (2011) Helminth parasite communities in four species of sympatric macropodids in western Victoria. Australian Mammalogy 33, 1320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banks, DJ, Copeman, DB and Skerratt, LF (2006) Echinococcus granulosus in northern Queensland. 2. Ecological determinants of infection in beef cattle. Australian Veterinary Journal 84, 308311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beveridge, I (1979) Hypodontus macropi Mönnig, 1929, a hookworm-like parasite of macropodid marsupials. Journal of Helminthology 53, 229244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beveridge, I (1994) Family Anoplocephalidae Cholodkovsky, 1902. pp. 315366in Khalil, LF, Jones, A and Bray, RA (Eds) Keys to the cestode parasites of vertebrates. Wallingford, CAB International.Google Scholar
Beveridge, I (1998) Taxonomic revision of the genus Cloacina von Linstow (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) from macropodid marsupials. Invertebrate Taxonomy 12, 273508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I (2002) Revision of Coronostrongylus (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) parasitic in the stomachs of macropodid marsupials. Invertebrate Systematics 16, 893917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I (2016) The gastro-intestinal helminth parasites of the swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor (Desmarest) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae), and their regional distribution. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 140, 203227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I and Presidente, PJA (1978) Rugopharynx rosemariae new species (Nematoda: Pharyngostrongylidae) from grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus and M. fuliginosus) with life cycle stages and associated pathology. International Journal for Parasitology 8, 379387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I and Shamsi, S (2009) Revision of the Progamotaenia festiva species complex (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) from Australasian marsupials, with the resurrection of P. fellicola (Nybelin, 1917) comb. nov. Zootaxa 1990, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I, Spratt, DM, Close, RL, Barker, SC and Sharman, GB (1989) Helminth parasites of rock wallabies, Petrogale spp. (Marsupialia) from Queensland. Australian Wildlife Research 16, 273287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I, Speare, R, Johnson, PM and Spratt, DM (1992) Helminth parasite communities of macropodoid marsupials of the genera Hypsiprymnodon, Aepyprymnus, Thylogale, Onychogale, Lagorchestes and Dendrolagus from Queensland. Wildlife Research 19, 359376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I, Chilton, NB and Andrews, RH (1993) Sibling species within Macropostrongyloides baylisi (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) from macropodid marsupials. International Journal for Parasitology 23, 2133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beveridge, I, Chilton, NB, Johnson, PM, Smales, LR, Speare, R and Spratt, DM (1998) Helminth parasite communities of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropus spp. and Wallabia bicolor) from north and central Queensland. Australian Journal of Zoology 46, 473495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I, Ngyuen, H, Nyein, S, Cheng, C, Koehler, A, Shuttleworth, M, Gasser, RB and Jabbar, A (2014) Description of Cloacina atthis sp. nov. from the stomach of the euro (Macropus robustus) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) from Western Australia based on morphological and molecular criteria. Parasitology Research 113, 34853493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beveridge, I, Jex, A, Tan, N and Jabbar, A (2018) New species of Cloacina von Linstow, 1898 (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) parasitic in the stomachs of wallaroos, Osphranter spp. (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) from northern Australia. Systematic Parasitology 95, 527542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, AO, Lafferty, KD, Lotz, JM and Shostak, AW (1997) Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chilton, NB, Huby-Chilton, F, Beveridge, I, Smales, LR, Gasser, RB and Andrews, RH (2011) Phylogenetic relationships of species within the tribe Labiostrongylinea (Nematoda: Cloacinidae) from Australian marsupials based on ribosomal DNA spacer sequence data. Parasitology International 60, 381387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chilton, NB, Jabbar, A, Huby-Chilton, F, Jex, A, Gasser, RB and Beveridge, I (2012) Genetic variation within the Hypodontus macropi (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) complex from macropodid marsupial hosts in Australia. Electrophoresis 33, 35443554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chilton, NB, Huby-Chilton, F, Koehler, AV, Gasser, RB and Beveridge, I (2016a) Phylogenetic relationships of species of the oesophageal parasitic nematode genera Cyclostrongylus and Spirostrongylus (Strongyloidea: Chabertiidae: Cloacininae) with their wallaby hosts (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Molecular and Cellular Probes 30, 9399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chilton, NB, Huby-Chilton, F, Koehler, AV, Gasser, R and Beveridge, I (2016b) Detection of cryptic species of Rugopharynx (Nematoda: Strongylida) from the stomachs of macropodid marsupials. International Journal for Parasitology – Parasites and Wildlife 5, 124133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chilton, NB, Shuttleworth, MA, Huby-Chilton, F, Koehler, AV, Jabbar, A, Gasser, RB and Beveridge, I (2017) Speciation in the genus Cloacina (Nematoda: Strongylida); species flocks and intra-host speciation. Parasitology 144, 18281840.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clancy, TF and Croft, DB (2008) Common wallaroo. Macropus robustus Gould, 1841. pp. 146148in van Dyck, S and Strachan, R (Eds) The mammals of Australia. 3rd edn.Sydney, Australia, Reed New Holland.Google Scholar
Dyck van, S and Strahan, R (2008) The mammals of Australia. 3rd edn.Sydney, Australia, Reed New Holland.Google Scholar
Eldridge, MB, Potter, S, Johnson, CN and Ritchie, EG (2014) Differing impact of a major biogeographic barrier on genetic structure in two large kangaroos from the monsoon tropics of northern Australia. Ecology and Evolution 4, 554567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, DI (1979) Materials and methods in helminth alpha-taxonomy. Parasitology 79, 36.Google Scholar
Hardman, LM, Haukisalmi, V and Beveridge, I (2012) Phylogenetic relationships of the anoplocephaline cestodes of Australasian marsupials and resurrection of the genus Wallabicestus Schmidt, 1975. Systematic Parasitology 82, 4963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, M, Gasser, RB, Chilton, N and Beveridge, I (2005) Genetic variation in the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 within three species of Progamotaenia (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) from macropodid marsupials. Parasitology 130, 117129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, S and Groves, C (2015) Taxonomy of Australian mammals. Melbourne, Australia, CSIRO Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magurran, AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princetown, NJ, Princetown University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menkhorst, PW (1996) Eastern wallaroo. pp. 142143in Menkorst, PW (Ed) Mammals of Victoria, distribution ecology and conservation. Melbourne, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meredith, RW, Westerman, M and Springer, MS (2008) A phylogeny and timescale for the living genera of kangatoos and kin (Macropodiformes: Marsupialia) based on nuclear DNA sequences. Australian Journal of Zoology 56, 395410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mykytowycz, R and Dudzinski, ML (1965) Sex ratio, weight, length and numbers of Labiostrongylus longispicularis (Wood), in relation to age of the host and season. Parasitology 55, 527541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulin, R (1998) Comparison of three estimators of species richness in parasite component communities. Journal of Parasitology 84, 485490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richardson, BJ (2019) Sub-species definitions and legislation: from eastern wallaroo (Osphranter robustus robustus) to euro (Osphranter robustus erubescens). Australian Mammalogy 41, 6575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, BJ and Sharman, GB (1976) Biochemical and morphological observations on the wallaroo (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) with a suggested new taxonomy. Journal of Zoology (London) 179, 499513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shuttleworth, M, Jabbar, A and Beveridge, I (2016a) Description and molecular characterisation of Cloacina johnstoni sp. nov. (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) from the wallaroo, Macropus robustus (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) and relationships with the synhospitalic species C. macropodis. Parasitology Research 115, 33573363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shuttleworth, MA, Beveridge, I, Koehler, AV, Gasser, RB and Jabbar, A (2016b) Molecular characterization of species of Cloacina (Strongyloidea: Cloacininae) from the common wallaroo, Macropus robustus (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) in Australia. Infection Genetics and Evolution 44, 245253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smales, LR (1977a) The life history of Labiostrongylus eugenii, a nematode parasite of the Kangaroo Island wallaby (Macropus eugenii): development and hatching of the egg and the free-living stages. International Journal for Parasitology 7, 449456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smales, LR (1977b) The life history of Labiostrongylus eugenii, a nematode parasite of the Kangaroo Island wallaby (Macropus eugenii): the parasitic stages. International Journal for Parasitology 7, 457461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spratt, DM and Beveridge, I (2016) Helminth parasites of Australasian monotremes and marsupials. Zootaxa 4123, 1198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spratt, DM, Walter, EL and Haycock, P (2017) Oesophageal and stomach nematode communities in three sympatric macropodid species in coastal and montane environments in southeastern New South Wales. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 141, 237252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, N, Chilton, NB, Huby-Chilton, F, Jex, AR, Gasser, RB and Beveridge, I (2012) Molecular evidence for a cryptic species within the nematode Macroponema comani (Strongyloidea: Cloacininae). Molecular and Cellular Probes 26, 170174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vendl, C and Beveridge, I (2014) Estimation of species richness in the complex communities of nematode parasites found in the stomachs of kangaroos and wallabies (Family Macropodidae). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 138, 105112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadley, JJ, Fordham, DA, Thomson, VA, Ritchie, EG and Austin, JJ (2016) Phylogeography of the antilopine wallaroo (Macropus antilopinus) across tropical northern Australia. Ecology and Evolution 6, 80508061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed