Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 82 (3): 337-345, 2009
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Host specificity, prevalence and between-sites variation in metazoan parasites of Anas
georgica Gmelin, 1789 (Aves: Anseriformes) in Chile
Host specificity, prevalence and between-sites variation in metazoan parasites of 65
Anas georgica Gmelin, 1789 (Aves: Anseriformes) specimens were assessed at six localities sampled between May and
July 2004 in the central-south zone of Chile. The correlation between the Statistical Taxonomic Distinctiveness index (STD) with the
prevalence and intensity in each parasite taxon was assessed in those taxa with determination attained at the species level.
Furthermore, the statistical significance of between-sites variation in abundance and prevalence of ectoparasites and endoparasites
were assessed as well as those in total abundance and taxonomic richnes of infracommunities. Finally, statistical tests allowed
assessing whether host body weight and sex were relevant sources of variation in abundance and richness. Most ducks (81.5 %)
harbored parasites and from which 1,653 individuals belonging to 11 taxa were collected. They were, among ectoparasites, the
Phthiraptera Anaticola crassicornis (Scopoli, 1763), Anatoecus icterodes (Nitzsch, 1818) and
Trinoton querquedulae (Linneus, 1758). Among the helminths we found the Digenea Australapatemon
burti (Miller, 1923) Dubois, 1968, Notocotylus imbricatus (Loss, 1893), Paramonostomum pseudoalveatum
Price, 1931, and an unidentified species of Echinostoma sp. Rudolphi, 1809, Echinoparyphium Dietz,
1909; the Nematoda Porrocaecum sp. Railliet & Henry, 1912, and the Cestoda Cloacotaenia megalops
(Nitzsch in Creplin, 1829) Wolfhuegel, 1938 and Fuhrmanacanthus propeteres (Fuhrmann, 1907) Spasskii, 1966.
All parasites except for Digenea and A. icterodes are recorded for the first time in Chile. There was a significantly negative
correlation between STD index and the prevalence while there was no significant correlation between hostspecificity and intensity.
There were no between-sex differences in abundance or richness, but these variables showed differences between sites. There is no
information on life cycles of the collected parasites or intermediate hosts involved in their transmisssion in Chile.
Key words:
Anas georgica,
host specificity index, intensity, parasites, prevalence
