Morphological and Molecular Barcode Characteristics of Parasites from Family Strigeidae Collected from Lake Winnibigoshish

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

21-4-2014 10:00 AM

End Date

21-4-2014 11:30 AM

Student's Major

Biological Sciences

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Robert Sorensen

Mentor's Email Address

robert.sorensen@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Biological Sciences

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Identification of parasites can be problematic as many species go through complex life cycles. To make matters for identification worse, plasticity of an organism can allow adaptations to a different species of host, which may incorrectly suggest a different or subspecies of a parasite. In 2012, ducks and waterfowl were recovered from hunters by Holly Bloom, a graduate student of MSU, from the northern Minnesota lake, Lake Winnibigoshish. Inside the intestines of these waterfowl, which included mallard, ring neck, blue wing teal, and scaup, a number of similar parasites were found. The parasites initially were suspected to be of Family Strigeidae, a family of trematodes. The identity of the suspected individuals has been confirmed to be the species Cotylurus brevis and Cotylurus flabelliformis. Confirmation of the identity was made from characteristics made visible by microscopy, both stained and SEM. Such characteristics included testis orientation and size, ovary ratio, body ratio, and sizes of ventral and oral suckers. Ranges obtained and observations of sizes and morphology of the worms’ organs were comparable to past studies by Nasir (1962) and Dubois (1950). We sequenced a portion of the cytochrome oxidase gene to aid in the identification of these worms. This will be helpful in future studies, because although morphology may change through the parasites life cycle or in relation to the host, its genetic markers should reveal an accurate identification.

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Apr 21st, 10:00 AM Apr 21st, 11:30 AM

Morphological and Molecular Barcode Characteristics of Parasites from Family Strigeidae Collected from Lake Winnibigoshish

CSU Ballroom

Identification of parasites can be problematic as many species go through complex life cycles. To make matters for identification worse, plasticity of an organism can allow adaptations to a different species of host, which may incorrectly suggest a different or subspecies of a parasite. In 2012, ducks and waterfowl were recovered from hunters by Holly Bloom, a graduate student of MSU, from the northern Minnesota lake, Lake Winnibigoshish. Inside the intestines of these waterfowl, which included mallard, ring neck, blue wing teal, and scaup, a number of similar parasites were found. The parasites initially were suspected to be of Family Strigeidae, a family of trematodes. The identity of the suspected individuals has been confirmed to be the species Cotylurus brevis and Cotylurus flabelliformis. Confirmation of the identity was made from characteristics made visible by microscopy, both stained and SEM. Such characteristics included testis orientation and size, ovary ratio, body ratio, and sizes of ventral and oral suckers. Ranges obtained and observations of sizes and morphology of the worms’ organs were comparable to past studies by Nasir (1962) and Dubois (1950). We sequenced a portion of the cytochrome oxidase gene to aid in the identification of these worms. This will be helpful in future studies, because although morphology may change through the parasites life cycle or in relation to the host, its genetic markers should reveal an accurate identification.

Recommended Citation

Swedberg, Rachael Yates and Yuko Nakamura. "Morphological and Molecular Barcode Characteristics of Parasites from Family Strigeidae Collected from Lake Winnibigoshish." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 21, 2014.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2014/poster_session_A/16