Angiostoma carettae

Angiostoma carettae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Nematoda
Class: Secernentea
Order: Rhabditida
Family: Angiostomatidae
Genus: Angiostoma
Species: A. carettae
Binomial name
Angiostoma carettae
Bursey & Manire, 2006

Angiostoma carettae is the first nematode known to inhabit turtles. Its specific name comes from its presence in Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta).[1]

Each of the loggerheads found to contain Angiostoma carettae had other debilitating disorders. For this reason, it is hard to pinpoint the exact effect of the nematodes. Even so, the nematodes caused histologic lesions in the respiratory tract.[1]

Ingestion of pelagic mollusks has been hypothesized as the mode of A. carettae ingestion, but has not been proven.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Charles A. Manire, Michael J. Kinsel, Eric T. Anderson, Tonya M. Clauss & Lynne Byrd (2008). "Lungworm infection in three loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta". Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 39 (1): 92–98. doi:10.1638/2007-0092.1. 
  2. ^ Bursey, Charles R.; Charles A. Manire (2006). "Angiostoma carettae n. sp (Nematoda : Angiostomatidae) from the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta (Testudines : Chelonfidae), Florida, USA". Comparative Physiology 73 (2): 253–256.