Aploparaksis (Tanureria) diagonalis Spassky and Bobova, 1961

Bondarenko, Svetlana & Kontrimavichus, Vytautas, 2006, Cestodes of the genus Aploparaksis Clerc, 1903 (Cyclophyllidea, Aploparaksidae) reported from gulls, with a description of new species, Journal of Natural History 40 (47 - 48), pp. 2589-2610 : 2604-2605

Aploparaksis (Tanureria) diagonalis Spassky and Bobova, 1961

Hosts. Gulls, Larus argentatus (nestlings, natural infection and experimentally) and Xema sabini (experimentally), also shorebirds of the genera Arenaria , Calidris , Gallinago , Limnodromus , Phalaropus , Tringa , Pluvialis (Linnaeus) . The nestling of Sterna paradisea Pontoppidan could not be infected experimentally.

Intermediate hosts. Oligochaeta (Enchytraeidae) Mesenchytraeus sp. 1 (? M. obscurus Eisen, 1904 ), natural infection, and Mesenchytraeus sp. 2 (? M. penicillus Eisen, 1904 ), experimentally ( Bondarenko 1975; Bondarenko & Kontrimavichus 1979).

Metacestode. Autotomicercus (after Bondarenko & Kontrimavichus 1976b, 1979)

Localities. Russia (Kamchatka, Chukotka, the lower reaches of the Lena River, Ob’ Bay, Norilsk Lakes ( Keta Lake ), the Commandor Islands ) .

Remarks. This species was firstly described as a member of Aploparaksis from shorebirds of Kamchatka by Spassky and Bobova (1961). Spassky and Yurpalova (1968) transferred it to the subgenus Aploparaksis (Tanureria) . Having discovered cestodes with an antiporally positioned vitellarium in Larus argentatus in Chukotka, Bondarenko (1975) first wrongly identified them as Aploparaksis xemae . Later, after the diagnosis of A. xemae was amended by Bondarenko (1979), Bondarenko and Kontrimavichus (1979) assigned these specimens to Aploparaksis diagonalis , and described them on the basis of specimens reared experimentally in young L. argentatus . A. diagonalis was reported from shorebirds by Belopolskaya (1969) and Spasskaya and Spassky (1971); also as A. xemae of Bondarenko (1966, 1973, 1976), Krasnoshchekov and Bondarenko (1975, 1976), Krasnoshchekov and Nikishin (1979). Bondarenko and Kontrimavichus (1999) have shown that specimens from Limnodromus griseus and Arenaria interpres recorded in Alaska as A. diagonalis by Deblock and Rausch (1968) actually appeared to belong to A. occidentalis Prudhoe and Manger, 1966 .

Of particular interest is a source of L. argentatus infestation with A. diagonalis , which we discovered on a small island of a tundra lake in the lower reaches of the Chaun River (Chukotka). Nestlings, but not adults from the colony studied were frequently found infected with this parasite. High intensity infection by the metacestodes of A. diagonalis was found in large numbers of enchytraeids living in the litter of nests, and in vegetable remains on the surface of the soil. During the breeding season oligochaetes were the prey of nestling L. argentatus . This obstacle explains how A. diagonalis can be widespread in nestling gull cestode communities. This is the only known case of gull infection by A. diagonalis .