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JPR Advance Access published online on June 16, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh117
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Received November 28, 2003
Accepted February 11, 2004

Article

Exotopic Protrusions and ellobiopsids’ infections on zooplanktonic copepods of a large, deep subalpine lake, Lago Maggiore (Northern Italy)

Marina Manca 1*, Antonio Carnovale 1, Paolo Alemani 1

1 CNR Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi (ISE), sezione di Idrobiologia ed Ecologia delle Acque Interne, Largo Tonolli 52, 28922, Verbania Pallanza, Italy

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.manca{at}ise.cnr.it.


  Abstract

Exotopic protrusions were first recorded on zooplanktonic copepods of Lago Maggiore in 1994. Originally, they were classified into two types: the most abundant, type I, were dark, sphaerical and granular; type II were small, transparent, and non-granular. They most commonly appeared on the lateral surface of adult Eudiaptomus padanus at the articulation of the 2nd and 3rd prosomal segments. Regular monitoring from 1994-2002 revealed the presence of additional, more complex protrusions, which may be later developmental stages of those already reported. In some instances, protrusions could be identified as successive stages of infection by Ellobiopsids. The latter are protists of uncertain taxonomic position, most probably achlorophyllous dinoflagellates, which during a phase of their life cycle parasitize zooplanktonic Crustacea. Originally described in the sea, and have been reported in lakes only recently. They appear to produce herniation by puncturing the body of the host; this might explain the presence of host cells inside the cysts. Exotopic protrusions seem to represent a stable component of calanoid copepods from Lago Maggiore; however they have recently been found to be more diverse in morphology and affecting additional hosts, such as copepodites and nauplii of Cyclops abyssorum, which are the second most important copepod species of the lake.


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