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===== RESEARCH NOTES ==
== НАУЧНЫЕ ЗАМЕТКИ ==========
FIRST FINDING OF MORISHITIUM POLONICUM (TREMATODA, CYCLOCOELIDAE) IN TURDUS MERULA AND COCCOTHRAUSTES COCCOTHRAUSTES IN RUSSIA
Nadezhda Yu. Kirillova1, Alexander A. Kirillov1*, Sergey N. Spiridonov2**, Gennadiy F. Grishutkin2
1 Institute of Ecology of the Volga River Basin ofRAS, Russia *e-mail: parasitolog@yandex.ru 2Joint Directorate of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve and National Park «Smolny», Russia
**e-mail: alcedo@rambler.ru
Received: 08.07.2019. Revised: 19.07.2019. Accepted: 20.07.2019.
The trematode Morishitium polonicum has been recorded for the first time from passerine birds in Russia (National Park «Smolny», Republic of Mordovia, Russia). Fifteen mature specimens were found in the air sacks of Turdus merula and Coccothraustes coccothraustes. A morphological description and photos of the examined trematode are given. Coccothraustes coccothraustes is detected as a new host of this trematode.
Key words: Common blackbird, Cyclocoelidae, Hawfinch, National Park «Smolny», trematodes
A complex parasitological research of vertebrates in the National Park «Smolny» was conducted from June 2018 to June 2019. There were collected ten mature trematodes from the air sacs of one male of Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 and five of one male of Coccothraustes coccothraustes (Linnaeus, 1758) on 1st May 2019 in the vicinity of the village Obrezki (Ichalki district, Republic of Mordovia, Russia) (Fig. 1).
The extracted parasites were immobilised by heating in a saline solution. Next, the trematodes were stained with acetic carmine, dehydrated, cleared in clove oil and mounted in Canada balsam. The helminths were identified, guided by dichotomous keys of Dronen & Tkach (2014) and Dronen & Blend (2015). Morphometric measurements of the parasite body length and width, oral sucker width, pharynx width, cirrus sac length, ovary width, testes width and the eggs' length and width were obtained. All measurements were given in millimeters (Table).
Description of trematodes from Coccothraustes coccothraustes (5 specimens)
Trematodes with an elongated lanceolate body, narrowed towards the anterior end, rounded posteriorly and flattened dorsoventrally (Fig. 2). The rudimentary oral sucker present, the ventral sucker absent. The mouth subterminal and following to a circular shaped pharynx. The prepharynx relatively short. The pharynx following to a thin oesophagus, which goes into caeca bifurcation. Intestinal branches reach the body end where they joined.
Fig. 1. Trematodes Morishitium polonicum in coelomic cavity of Coccothraustes coccothraustes male.
Table. Morphometric measurements of Morishitium polonicum from Turdus merula and Coccothraustes coccothraustes. Percentages of body length shown in brackets
Measurements, mm Turdus merula (10 trematodes) Coccothraustes coccothraustes (5 trematodes)
min-max average min-max average
Body length 6.902-8.254 7.704 6.250-8.075 7.275
Body width 2.000-2.650 2.269 1.815-2.453 2.099
Oral sucker width 0.169-0.232 0.196 0.181-0.266 0.214
Pharynx width 0.204-0.232 0.218 0.193-0.266 0.220
Pharynx/oral sucker ratio 1:1 1:1.03
Cirrus sac length 0.236-0.324 0.291 (3.8%) 0.193-0.315 0.256 (3.5%)
Ovary width 0.222-0.348 0.304 0.259-0.296 0.274
Testes width 0.370-1.000 0.588 0.386-0.667 0.510
Testes width/ovary width 1:1.9 1:1.9
Intertesticular space 0.533-0.963 0.714 (9%) 0.630-0.681 0.652 (9%)
Posttesticular space 0.444-0.830 0.662 (8.6%) 0.548-0.954 0.727 (9.9%)
Egg length 0.090-0.134 0.113 0.079-0.126 0.101
Egg width 0.047-0.071 0.060 0.043-0.069 0.057
the caeca arch. The circular ovary located between the testes about the same line as the testes. The uterus loops occupy the space between the caeca branches, not crossing them laterally. Vitelline fields in the anterior part of the body reached approximately the level of the posterior margin of the caeca bifurcation on at least one side and do not join into the posterior zone of the trematode body. The transversal vitelline duct is clearly visible and located at the level of the posterior testis (Fig. 2).
The morphological description of the trematodes found in Turdus merula coincides with the description of the parasites from Coccothraustes coccothraustes.
Based on comparing the morphology and morphometry of parasites by Dronen & Blend (2015), the trematodes found in Turdus merula and Cocco-thraustes coccothraustes were identified as Mor-ishitium polonicum (Machalska, 1980).
According to Dronen & Blend (2015), Turdus merula is an additional host of the trematode. The typical host of the parasite is Turdus philomelos Brehm, 1831. Morishitium polonicum was previously registered in thrushes in Poland (Machalska, 1980; Sulgostowska & Czaplinska, 1987), Italy (Visconti et al., 1988; Bona et al., 1995; Galosi et al., 2019), the Czech Republic (Sitko et al., 2017), and Spain (Jaume-Ramis & Pinya, 2018). The parasite was also noted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan as Neocyclocoelum elongatum (Harrah, 1921) (Feizullaev, 1980).
The finding of mature trematodes in Turdus merula and Coccothraustes coccothraustes in early May suggests that the infection of these migratory birds with this parasite occurred at wintering grounds. Our finding of mature M. polonicum is confirmed by the data of Okulewicz (2014). Recording mature helminths in adult migratory birds in spring indicates that it is an alien parasite and the infection occurred at wintering
Fig. 2. Morishitium polonicum found in Coccothraustes coccothraustes. A - general image of M. polonicum; B - anterior end of the body showing the rudimentary oral sucker, the pharynx, genital pore and the eggs in uterus; C - posterior end of the body showing two oval-shaped testes, an intert-esticular circular ovary placed between the testes about the same line as the testes, two caeca joined posteriorly and two vitelline fields not confluent posteriorly.
The genital pore postpharyngeal. Cirrus sac bulb-shaped, located in the bifurcation area, and not reaching its posterior border. Two oval-shaped testes located at the posterior part of the body. The anterior testis is shifted from the median line toward the wall of caeca. The posterior testis is always larger than the anterior and lies medially in
grounds. In the Middle Volga region, populations of T. merula and C. coccothraustes are migratory. Turdus merula spends the winter in the Mediterranean region and Central Asia (Collar & Christie, 2019). Wintering sites of C. coccothraustes are in south eastern Europe, the Middle East, on the Crimea, and in the Caucasus (Clement & Christie, 2019).
The trematode M. polonicum is recorded for the first time from passerine birds in Russia. Coc-cothraustes coccothraustes is detected as a new parasite host.
References
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blue magpie, Urocissa erythrorhyncha (Boddaert) (Corvidae) from Guizhou Province, People's Republic of China. Zootaxa 3835(2): 273-282. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3835.2.7 Feizullaev N.A. 1980. Trematodes of the superfamily Cyclo-coeloidea (morphology, biology, phylogeny and system-atics). Baku: ELM. 212 p. [In Russian] Galosi L., Heneberg P., Rossi G., Sitko J., Magi G.E., Per-rucci S. 2019. Air sac trematodes Morishitium polonicum as a newly identified cause of death in the common blackbird (Turdus merula). International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 9(1): 74-79. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.03.021 Jaume-Ramis S., Pinya S. 2018. First record of Morishitium polonicum (Machalska, 1980) (Trematoda, Cyclocoe-lidae) parasitizing Turdus philomelos Brehm, 1831 in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Bolleti de la Soci-etat d'Historia Natural de Les Balears 61: 9-15. Machalska J. 1980. Cyclocoelum polonicum sp.n (Trematoda, Cyclocoelidae) from the thrushes Turdus philomelos Br. and T. merula L. Acta Parasitologica Polonica 26: 129-136. Okulewicz A. 2014. Helminths in migrating and wintering birds recorded in Poland. Annals of Parasitology 60(1): 19-24. Sitko J., Bizos J., Heneberg P. 2017. Central European parasitic flatworms of the Cyclocoelidae Stossich, 1902 (Trematoda: Plagiorchiida): molecular and comparative morphological analysis suggests the reclassification of Cyclocoelum obscurum (Leidy, 1887) into the Harra-hium Witenberg, 1926. Parasitology 144(4): 368-383. DOI: 10.1017/S0031182016001955 Sulgostowska T., Czaplinska D. 1987. Pasozyty ptakow - pa-rasiti avium. Zeszyt 1. Pierwotniaki i Przywry. Protozoa et Trematoda. In: Katalog Fauny Pasozytniczej Polski. Vol. 4. Wroclaw. P. 1-210. Visconti S., Giovannetti L., Canestri-Trotti G. 1988. Su di un trematode del genere Cyclocoelum Brandes, 1892, parassita dei sacchi aerei di Turdus merula L. Parassi-tologia 30(Suppl. 1): 211-212.
ПЕРВОЕ ОБНАРУЖЕНИЕ MORISHITIUM POLONICUM (TREMATODA, CYCLOCOELIDAE) У TURDUS MERULA И COCCOTHRAUSTES COCCOTHRAUSTES В РОССИИ
Н. Ю. Кириллова1, A. A. Кириллов1*, С. Н. Спиридонов2**, Г. Ф. Гришуткин2
1Институт экологии Волжского бассейна РАН, Россия *e-mail: parasitolog@yandex. ru 2Объединенная дирекция Мордовского государственного заповедника имени П.Г. Смидовича
и национального парка «Смольный», Россия **e-mail: alcedo@rambler.ru
Трематоды Morishitium polonicum впервые зарегистрированы у воробьиных птиц фауны России (Национальный парк «Смольный», Республика Мордовия, Россия). Пятнадцать марит были найдены в воздушных мешках Turdus merula и Coccothraustes coccothraustes. Приводятся морфологическое описание и фотографии обнаруженных трематод. Coccothraustes coccothraustes отмечен в качестве нового хозяина паразита.
Ключевые слова: Cyclocoelidae, дубонос, национальный парк «Смольный», трематоды, черный дрозд
