Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T17:49:38.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microsporidan parasites of Simulium ornatum Mg. in South England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. S. S. Gassouma
M. S. S. Gassouma
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

(1) Simulium ornatum larvae were regularly collected from the River Lea (Hertfordshire) and from Tilling Bourne (Surrey) during 1967–9. Preliminary surveys revealed no parasitism in pupal and adult stages of S. ornatum but several parasites, some common, occurred in the Simulium larvae. These were studied by dissection, smears and histologically. (2) Microsporida were well represented by two genera - Thelohania and Plistophora. Infection rates never exceeded 9% of larvae. Spore measurements statistically evaluated from different larval infections justified recognition of five species of Thelohania (T. minuta sp.nov., T. bertrami sp.nov., T. canningi sp.nov., T. simulii sp.nov., and T. avacuolata sp.nov.), and two species of Plistophora (P. tillingbournei sp.nov. and P. leasei sp.nov.). (3) Intra-epithelial organisms of the larval gut wall, referred to provisionally as Microsporidan-like bodies, caused light infections. (4) With the exception of the slight Microsporidan-like infections, all species of Microsporida were found parasitizing the fat body of the larva, causing its disintegration. Delay in larval growth and pupation occurred, followed by death. (5) Seasonal cycles of abundance of infection were related to summer and overwintering populations of Simulium larvae. (6) Transmission of infection was attempted by exposing apparently uninfected wild-caught Simulium larvae to spores of Thelohania but no evidence of active infection being established in the exposed larvae was obtained. (7) Although the pathogenic Microsporida taken in this study must have exerted control on natural larval densities, too little is known of their biology, mode of transmission or methods of culture to envisage their development, for biological control of simuliids, at present.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , August 1972 , pp. 27 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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

Beaudoin, R., & Wills, W., (1965). A description of Caudospora pennsylvanica sp.n. (Caudosporidae: Microsporidia) parasites of the larvae of the blackfly Prosimulium magnum Dyar and Shannon. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 7, 152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canning, E. U., (1953). A new Microsporidia, Nosema locustae n.sp. from the fat body of the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides R. & F. Parasitology. 43, 287–91.Google ScholarPubMed
Canning, E. U., (1962). The pathogenicity of Nosema locustae Canning. Journal of Insect Pathology 4, 248–56.Google Scholar
Debaisieux, P., (1919). Microsporidies parasites des larves de Simulium: Thelohania varians. La Cellule 30, 8–79.Google Scholar
Debaisieux, P., (1926). A propos d'une Microsporidia nouvelle Octosporea simulii. Annales de Société Scientifique de Bruxelles 46, 594–601.Google Scholar
Debaisieux, P., & Gastaldi, L., (1919). Les Microsporidies parasites des larves de Simulium. La Cellule 30, 187–213.Google Scholar
Doby, J. & Saguez, F., (1964). Weiseria, genre nouveau de Microsporidies et Weiseria laurenti n.sp., parasite de larves de Prosimulium inflatum Davies, 1957 (Dipteres: Paranematoceres). Comptes Rendus de Académie des Sciences, Paris 259, 3614–17.Google Scholar
Farley, C. A., (1965). Acid-fast staining of Haplosporidian spores in relation to oyster pathology. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 7, 144–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, T. W., & Srisukh, S., (1950). Insectorubin the redox pigment present in the integument and eyes of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk), the African migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides R & F) and other insects. Biochemical Journal 47, 549–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hazard, E. I., & Weiser, J., (1968). Spores of Thelohania in adult female Anopheles: development and transovarial transmission, and redescription of T. legeri Hesse and T. obesa Kudo. Journal of Protozoology 15, 814–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamnback, H. A., (1970). Caudospora and Weiseria, two genera of Microsporidia parasitic in blackflies. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 16, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jirovec, O., (1943). Revision der in Simuliumlarven parasitierenden Mikrosporidien. Zoologischer Anzeiger 142, 173–9.Google Scholar
Kellen, W. R., Chapman, H. C., Clark, T. B., & Lindegren, J. E., (1965). Host-parasite relationships of some Thelohania from mosquitoes (Nosematidae: Microsporidia). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 7, 161–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellen, W. R., & Lipa, J. J., (1960). Thelohania californica n.sp. a Microsporidian parasite of Culex tarsalis Coq. Journal of Insect Pathology 2, 1–12.Google Scholar
Kellen, W. R., & Wills, W., (1962). The transovarian transmission of Thelohania californica Kellen & Lipa in Culex tarsalis Coq. Journal of Insect Pathology 4, 321–6.Google Scholar
Lutz, A., & Splendore, A., (1904). Über Pebrine und verwandte Mikrosporidien. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie 36, 645–50.Google Scholar
Lutz, A., & Splendore, A., (1908). Über Pebrine und verwandte Mikrosporidien. Zweite Mitteilung. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie 46, 311–15.Google Scholar
Maurand, J., (1967). Relations microsporidies-larves de Simulium: Spécificité parasitaire d'hôte: spécificité parasitaire. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 42, 285–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprague, V., (1940). Observations on Goelosporidium periplanetae with special reference to the development of the spore. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 59, 460–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strickland, E. H., (1911). Some parasites of Simulium larvae and their effects on the development of the host. Biological Bulletin 21, 302–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strickland, E. H., (1913). Further observations on the parasites of Simulium larvae. Journal of Morphology 24, 43–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, E. M., (1960). Variation of some of the characteristics used to distinguish between species of Microsporidia. I. Spore size. Journal of Insect Pathology 2, 147–51.Google Scholar
Vavra, J., (1964). Recording Microsporidian spores. Journal of Insect Pathology 6, 258–60.Google Scholar
Weiser, J., (1947). Caudospora simulii n.g. n.sp. parasite nouveau des larves de Simulie. Annales de Parasitologic Humaine et Comparée. 22, 11–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiser, J., (1960). Thelohania columbaczense n.sp., a new Microsporidian of Simulium reptans columbaczense (Diptera: Simuliidae). Ceskoslovenska Spolecnost Zoologicka, Prague: Vestnik. 24, 196–8.Google Scholar
Weiser, J., (1961). Die Mikrosporidien als Parasiten der Insekten. Monographien zur Angew. Entomologie. Nr. 17. V. P. Parey, Hamburg und Berlin.Google Scholar