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So happy together: juvenile crabeater seal behavior improves lice transmission

  • Arthropods and Medical Entomology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Lice from family Echinophthiriidae are of the few insects that have successfully colonized marine environment living as ectoparasites of pinnipeds, i.e., sea lions, seals, and the walrus. They have developed unique adaptations to cope with the amphibious lifestyle of their hosts. Because eggs do not survive underwater, lice could only reproduce when their host remains on pack ice enough time. Consequently, lice generations per year are limited by host haul-out behavior. The objective of this work is to study the effect of host sex and age class, and the annual variation on the prevalence and mean abundance of Antarctophthirus lobodontis in crabeater seals from the Antarctic Peninsula. During three consecutive field-seasons, we collected lice from 41 crabeater seals (23 females, 16 males, 2 indeterminate, being 24 adults, and 17 juveniles). We investigated this effect on the prevalence and mean abundance by a generalized linear model formulation in a Bayesian framework. According to the lowest Deviance Index Criterion model, sex host does not affect prevalence nor mean abundance. We found that juveniles present greater abundance and prevalence than adults, possibly due to foraging habits. They spent more time on the ice than adults in groups of dozens of animals. This behavior would favor both egg development and lice transmission. We do not find adult females with lice, which suggests that transmission of A. lobodontis should be horizontal. The high mean abundance of lice in 2014 could be associated with an unusual increase in Lobodon carcinophaga population, probably related to the pack-ice availability and zooplankton abundance.

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Acknowledgments

The authors support and defense the Argentinian Scientific Program, understanding science as an act of sovereignty. We thank Sebastián Poljak, Magalí Bobinac, Juan Galliari, Pedro Carlini, Julieta Cebuhar, Pablo Moscoso and Lucas Lanusse for fieldwork and lice samples.

Funding

The study was financially and logistically supported by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico, Instituto Antártico Argentino. The permit for this work was granted by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico (Environmental Office). This research was funded by the Agencia de Promoción Científica Tecnológica (PICT 2015-0082, PICT 2018-0537). This research was also funded by a Research Project from the Secretariat of Science and Technology of the UNPSJB (PI 1492- 80020180100018UP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR), Boulevard Brown 2915, U9120ACF, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

    F. A. Soto & M. S. Leonardi

  2. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

    M. J. Klaich

  3. Departamento de Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    J. Negrete

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  1. F. A. Soto
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  3. J. Negrete
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  4. M. S. Leonardi
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Correspondence to M. S. Leonardi.

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Soto, F.A., Klaich, M.J., Negrete, J. et al. So happy together: juvenile crabeater seal behavior improves lice transmission. Parasitol Res 119, 2059–2065 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06704-5

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