Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mystery tubes coiled around deep-water tropical gorgonians: fecampiid cocoons (Platyhelminthes: Fecampiida) resembling Solenogastres (Mollusca)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Systematic Parasitology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

During the examination of a large suite of tropical deep-water molluscs, a number of Solenogastres were found, some of them typically curled around gorgonian stems. A subsequent closer examination of the Solenogastres revealed another type of object also curled around the gorgonians, which strongly resembled Solenogastres but lacked their external features. These objects proved to be cocoons with egg capsules, each containing two eggs or young larvae, typical of the parasitic platyhelminth group Fecampiida.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baylis, H. A. (1949). Fecampia spiralis, a cocoon-forming parasite of the antarctic isopod Serolis schythei. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 161, 64–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, D., & Williams, J. B. (1987). A new fecampiid of the genus Kronborgia (Platyhelminthes: Turbellaria: Neorhabdocoela) parasitic in the intertidal isopod Exosphaeroma obtusum (Dana) from New Zealand. Journal of Natural History, 21, 1155–1172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caullery, M., & Mesnil, F. (1902). Sur les Fecampia GIARD, Turbellariés endoparasites. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des Séances et Mémoires de la Société de Biologie, 12(IV), 439–441.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caullery, M., & Mesnil, F. (1903). Recherches sur les “Fecampia” GIARD, Turbellariés Rhabdocèles, parasites internes des crustacés. Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Marseille, 13, 131–168, pp. 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, A. M. (1976). On the morphology and biology of Kronborgia spiralis (Baylis, 1949) (Turbellaria, Neorhabdocoela), with a note on its systematic position. Ophelia, 15, 77–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, A. M. (1981a). Fecampia abyssicola n. sp. (Turbellaria: Rhabdocoela) and five cocoon types of undescribed species of fecampiidae from the deep sea. Galathea Report, 15, 69–77, pp. 6–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, A. M. (1981b). The geographical and bathymetrical distribution of the Fecampiidae (Turbellaria, Rhabdocoela). Hydrobiologia, 84, 13–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, A. M., & Kanneworff, B. (1967). On some cocoons belonging to undescribed species of endoparasitic turbellarians. Ophelia, 4, 29–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gage, J. D., & Tyler, P. A. (1991). Deep-sea biology: a natural history of organisms at the deep-sea floor (504 p). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, N. D., Clague, D. A., Gordon, D. P., Gebruk, A., Pawson, D. L., & Vecchione, M. (2005). ‘Lophenteropneust’ hypothesis refuted by collection and photos of new deep-sea hemichordates. Nature, 434, 374–376.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith C. R., Jumars, P. A., & DeMaster, D. J. (1986). In situ studies of megafaunal mounds indicate rapid sediment turnover and community response at the deep-sea floor. Nature, 323, 251–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, S., Schilling, S., Hooge, M., & Bush, L. F. (comp.) (2005). Turbellarian taxonomic database. Version 1.4; http://devbio.umesci.maine.edu/styler/turbellaria/.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Emerging Focus Molecular Phylogenetics, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Claudia Handl

  2. Département Systematique et Evolution, Unité Taxonomique – Collections, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 55, rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

    Philippe Bouchet

Authors
  1. Claudia Handl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philippe Bouchet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia Handl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Handl, C., Bouchet, P. Mystery tubes coiled around deep-water tropical gorgonians: fecampiid cocoons (Platyhelminthes: Fecampiida) resembling Solenogastres (Mollusca). Syst Parasitol 67, 81–85 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9077-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9077-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation