Transmission and development of Capillospirura pseudoargumentosa (Appy and Dadswell, 1978) (Nematoda: Cystidicolidae)

Abstract

The cystidicolid nematode, Capillospirura pseudoargumentosa (Appy and Dadswell, 1978) (Habronematoidea) moulted twice and developed to the infective third stage in Gammarus tigrinus and G. fasciatus (Amphipoda) but not in isopods, decapods, mysids or other amphipods. At 10–14 °C development to the third stage in G. tigrinus took between 28 and 40 days and at 21–25 °C, it took between 10 and 15 days. Infective larvae fed to shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, moulted from the third to the fourth stage within 15 days. Moulting third- and fourth-stage larvae were found in naturally infected sturgeon collected in the Saint John River estuary, New Brunswick. The developmental morphology of C. pseudoargumentosa is compared with that of other cystidicolid nematodes.