THE MYXOZOAN FAUNA OF SPOTTAIL SHINER IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN: MEMBERSHIP, RICHNESS, AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

Spottail shiner (Notropis hudsonius) from localities in each of the Great Lakes plus some nearby waterbodies, i.e., the St. Lawrence River, and the Chester River, Maryland, were examined for myxozoan parasites. A total of 10 species was found, including 7 histozoic (Myxobolus sp.; M. algonquinensis Xiao and Desser, 1997; M. bartai Salim and Desser, 2000; M. xiaoi Salim and Desser, 2000; M. fanthami Landsberg and Lom, 1991; M. hendricksoni Mitchell, Seymour, and Gamble, 1985; Thelohanellus notatus Mavor, 1916) and 3 coelozoic (Chloromyxum sp., Zschokkella sp., Sphaerospora sp.) representatives. Infracommunity richness varied from 0 to 5 species per fish; mean infracommunity richness varied from 0 to 2.5 species. Component community richness varied from 0 to 7. Significant positive correlations were observed between mean and maximum infracommunity richness and component community richness. Similarly, maximum prevalence of each species at any 1 site was positively correlated with geographic range as measured by number of localities where a parasite species was encountered. Individual species occurred independently of each other. Representative histozoic and coelozoic species displayed similarly widespread distributions from Wisconsin to Maryland, but overall, histozoic species were dominant members within component communities. The study concludes that, under the present taxonomic paradigm, species parasitizing spottail shiner appear to be part of a larger network that cycles, in varying degrees, through certain other cyprinid and catostomid fish. The challenge of future research is to determine whether each parasite species constitutes single or multiple genetically isolated populations.