Variaciones intraespecíficas del adulto de Proctoeces lintoni Siddiqi & cable, 1960 (Trematoda: Fellodistomidae) en hospedadores vertebrados e invertebrados

Abstract

Growth patterns are compared in the trematode Proctoeces humboldti George‐Nascimento & Quiroga, 1983 (Fellodistomidae), parasite of the gonads of the molluscs Fissurella crassa Lamarck, 1822 and Fissurella latimarginata Sowerby, 1835 and Proctoeces chilensis Oliva, 1984, parasite of the intestine of the fish Sicyases sanguineus Müller & Tronschel, 1843 (Gobiesocidae). The flukes reach sexual maturity in both, the vertebrate and invertebrate host. The average size of the body parts and organs, and patterns of allometric growth, are influenced by the host species; moreover, the coefficient of variability of the body parts and organs studied is also affected. In the light of our results, and those of Bray & Gibson (1980), only two species are to be considered as valid in the genus Proctoeces, namely P. maculatus (Looss, 1907) and P. lintoni Siddiqi & Cable, 1960. Thus, P. humboldti and P. chilensis become synonyms of P. lintoni, because the structure of the seminal vesicles is identical. The presence of mature worms in vertebrate and invertebrate hosts is explained according to the hypothetical sequence of life cycles in digenetic trematodes (Rohde, 1973).