Folia Parasitologica 66:015 (2019) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2019.015

Description of Acanthocephalus anguillae balkanicus subsp. n. (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae) from Proteus anguinus Laurenti (Amphibia: Proteidae) and the cave ecomorph of Asellus aquaticus (Crustacea: Asellidae) in Slovenia

Omar M. Amin1, Richard A. Heckmann2, Žiga Fišer3, Valerija Zakšek3, Holger Herlyn4, Rok Kostanjšek3
1 Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; 2
3 Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
4 Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Anthropology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.

Acanthocephalus balkanicus Batchvarov et Combes, 1974 was incompletely described from the northern crested newt, Triturus cristatus (Laurenti) (Amphibia: Salamandridae), a possible synonym of the Balkan crested newt, Triturus ivanbureschi Arntzen et Wielstra, from a pond in village of Pesnopoy, southern Bulgaria. We provide a full description of adult males and females of the same taxon from the olm, Proteus anguinus Laurenti (Amphibia: Proteidae), the only exclusively aquatic cave-dwelling vertebrate in Europe, captured in Postojna-Planina Cave System in Slovenia. Cystacanths were also collected from the cave ecomorph of Asellus aquaticus (Linnaeus) (Crustacea: Asellidae) in the same location. Molecular analysis of specimens from Slovenia revealed that they are genetically almost identical to those of Acanthocephalus anguillae (Müller, 1780), a common parasite of European freshwater fishes. We propose to recognise the morphological and host differences by describing A. balkanicus as a new subspecies of A. anguillae. Acanthocephalus anguillae balkanicus is rather small and cylindrical with cylindrical proboscis having 10 rows of 6 hooks with simple roots each, long neck, large balloon-shaped lemnisci, small spherical anterior testis, and 6 club-shaped cement glands in 3 pairs. SEM images reveal more morphological details and the X-ray scans of gallium cut hooks shows considerably higher levels of phosphorus and calcium in adult hooks than in cystacanth hooks, especially in basal areas. Sulfur levels were higher in the arch and basal area of cystacanth hooks than adult hooks. Considering that both definitive and intermediate hosts of the Slovenian population of this acanthocephalan are bound to cave life, it is possible that its entire life cycle is uniquely completed underground.

Keywords: new subspecies, acanthocephalans, olm, EDXA analysis, molecular profile, Postojna-Planina Cave System.

Received: August 27, 2018; Accepted: August 6, 2019; Published online: October 10, 2019  Show citation

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Amin, O.M., Heckmann, R.A., Fišer, Ž., Zakšek, V., Herlyn, H., & Kostanjšek, R. (2019). Description of Acanthocephalus anguillae balkanicus subsp. n. (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae) from Proteus anguinus Laurenti (Amphibia: Proteidae) and the cave ecomorph of Asellus aquaticus (Crustacea: Asellidae) in Slovenia. Folia Parasitologica, 66, Article 2019.015. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2019.015
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