Museum material reveals a frog parasite emergence after the invasion of the cane toad in Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A parasite morphologically indistinguishable from Myxidium immersum (Myxozoa: Myxosporea) found in gallbladders of the invasive cane toad (Bufo marinus) was identified in Australian frogs. Because no written record exists for such a parasite in Australian endemic frogs in 19th and early 20th century, it was assumed that the cane toad introduced this parasite. While we cannot go back in time ourselves, we investigated whether material at the museum of natural history could be used to retrieve parasites, and whether they were infected at the time of their collection (specifically prior to and after the cane toad translocation to Australia in 1935).

Results

Using the herpetological collection at the Australian Museum we showed that no myxospores were found in any ani

SUBMITTER: Hartigan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2901343 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature