Desportesius sagitattus (Rudolphi, 1809)

Syrota, Ya. Yu., Kharchenko, V. O., Lyaskivskiy, V. N., Kobylinsky, V. V. & Vasylkivska, I. B., 2015, Finding Of Two Species From The Tribe Synhimantea (Nematoda, Acuariidae) In The Kyiv Zoological Park, Vestnik Zoologii 49 (6), pp. 483-488 : 484-485

Desportesius sagitattus (Rudolphi, 1809)

H o s t: Black stork ( C. nigra )

L o c a l i t y: Kyiv, Ukraine

S i t e o f i n f e c t i o n: gizzard

I n t e n s i t y: 11

Small nematodes. Cuticle with transverse striation. Striation most obvious in middle part of body. Two pseudolabia arranged around mouth. Two pairs of cervical cordons beginning at base of each pseudolabia. Straight cordons extending to middle part of muscular esophagus, recurrent anteriorly to anterior end of body and merged at level of posterior edge of nerve ring ( fig 1, 1 ). Cervical papillae bicuspid, posterior to merging of cordons. Two lateral cordons present. Each lateral cordon beginning behind cervical papillae, extending across lateral side of body, finished nearly at level of tail. Buccal capsule relatively long. Esophagus consisted of short anterior muscular part and long posterior glandular part. Nerve ring located at level of anterior end of muscular part of esophagus.

Male (n = 3). Body length 7.4–8.3 mm, maximum width 150–212 µm. Buccal capsule 187–217 µm long. Distance from anterior end of body to nerve ring 205–287 µm, to cervical papilla 287–386 µm, to excretory pore 386 µm. Cordons 692–841 µm in total length, descending branch 455–574 µm long, recurrent branch 207–267 µm long. Muscular part of esophagus 455–693 µm long, glandular part of esophagus 1.6–2.2 mm long. Well-developed caudal alae present, 657–741 µm long. Caudal papillae: 4 pairs preanal and 5 pairs postanal. Spicules unequal and dissimilar. Left spicule longer than right one, 693–792 µm long. Distal end of left spicule bifurcated. Right spicule canoe shaped, 217– 263 µm long. Tail 132–149 µm long.

Female (n = 2). Body length 8.8–11.3 mm. Body width 316–347 µm. Buccal capsule 163–257 µm long. Distance from anterior end of body to nerve ring 238–277 µm, to cervical papilla 346–455 µm. Cordons 940–1030 µm in total length, descending branch 623–693 µm long, recurrent branch 317–336 long. Muscular part of esophagus 455–546 µm long. Distance from posterior end of body to vulva 80–108 µm. Vulva close to anal opening. Tail 33–45 µm long.

The stork examined also harbored Dicheilonema ciconiae (Schrank 1788) and Chaunocephalus ferox (Rudolphi 1795) . Dragonfly larvae and ostracods (Crustacea) are known as intermediate hosts of other species from genus Desportesius , and various fish species may be paratenic hosts of Desportesius spp. ( Anderson, 2000; Moravec 1994). However, intermediate host is unknown for De. sagitattus . In the Zoo, stork’s ration consisted of feedstuffs eliminating possibility of infection by the parasite. So probably the stork has been infected by De. sagitattus in nature.

Figures

Fig. 1. De. sagitattus and Di. nasuta: 1 — anterior end of De. sagitattus; 2 — anterior end of Di. nasuta; 3 — anterior end of the larva Di. nasuta; 4 — posterior end of the larva Di. nasuta; pl — pseudolabia, bc — buccal capsule, cp — cervical papilla, nr — nerve ring, c — cordons, em — muscular esophagus, eg — glandural esophagus; a — anal pore. Scale bar 100 µm.