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Ogmogaster antarctica (Digenea: Notocotylidae) infecting a dwarf minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Cetartiodactyla: Balaenopteridae) from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean

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Abstract

Digeneans of the genus Ogmogaster Jägerskiöld, 1891 are intestinal parasites of whales and pinnipeds. Due to the difficulty in recovering these parasites from opportunistic stranding events of their hosts, very little morphological and molecular data are available on the species of this genus. During a beach monitoring survey on the Southern Brazilian coast, a dwarf minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Lacépède, 1804) was necropsied and some digeneans were found in its intestine. Morphological and molecular analyses based on the ribosomal DNA SSU and the mitochondrial DNA COI genes were conducted. The morphological data along with the phylogenetic reconstructions allowed the identification of Ogmogaster antarctica Johnston, 1931. This is the first report of O. antarctica infecting a B. acutorostrata in the South Atlantic Ocean. The morphological data, the molecular characterization and the phylogenetic positioning of O. antarctica presented in this study contribute to the knowledge of the helminth diversity of large whales.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the staff of PMP - UNIVILLE for the collection of the stranded whale and the intestinal parasites. M. B. E. held a scholarship grant from CNPq (140873/2017-1). M. J. C. thanks CNPq for a research productivity scholarship (10477/2017-4). R. J. da S. was supported by CNPq (307808/2014-9), CNPq-PROTAX (440496/2015-2) and FAPESP 2016/50377-1. Financial support was also provided by Fundo de Apoio à Pesquisa FAP/UNIVILLE. The samples analyzed in this study were obtained through the Beach Monitoring Project from Santos Basin (PMP/BS), which is a requirement established by the federal environmental licensing division of the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA), for the exploration of oil and gas by Petrobras at the Santos Basin pre-salt province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biosciences, Department of Parasitology, São Paulo State University (UNESP) Campus Botucatu, 250, Botucatu, São Paulo, 18618-689, Brazil

    Mariana Bertholdi Ebert & Reinaldo José da Silva

  2. School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Department of Pathology, São Paulo University (USP), 87, São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-270, Brazil

    Juliana Marigo

  3. Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Coastal and Marine Tetrapods, University of the Region of Joinville (UNIVILLE), Duque de Caxias Road, 6.365, São Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina, 89240-000, Brazil

    Guilherme Guerra Neto & Marta Jussara Cremer

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  1. Mariana Bertholdi Ebert
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Correspondence to Mariana Bertholdi Ebert.

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Procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutions in which they were conducted. Permission to collect and transport deceived stranded dolphins was given by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA/SISBIO) under registration 11,980–1.

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Ebert, M.B., Marigo, J., Guerra Neto, G. et al. Ogmogaster antarctica (Digenea: Notocotylidae) infecting a dwarf minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Cetartiodactyla: Balaenopteridae) from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Biologia 75, 1983–1990 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-020-00454-6

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