Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-06T11:50:05.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A study on adaptation tolerance: growth of ascaridoid larvae in indigenous and non-indigenous hosts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. F. A. Sprent  and
Ann McKeown
J. F. A. Sprent
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Ann McKeown
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A marked difference in the rate and extent of growth of the third-stage larvae of Amplicaecum robertsi was observed in the liver of indigenous Australian rats, as compared with non-indigenous rats. This difference was not correlated with the number of larvae recovered. The suggestion is made that the greater growth in indigenous rodents might be due to the availability or accessibility of a growth factor in the former group, or a manifestation of ‘adaptation tolerance’, an immunological unresponsiveness arising from adaptation in a geographically isolated host-parasite association. Observations on incidence of natural infection supported the hypothesis in relation to Rattus assimilis but not to Melomys cervinipes.

Thanks are due to Dr C. Dobson for help with the presentation of results.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , August 1967 , pp. 549 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Harrison, J. L. (1962 a). Mammals of Innisfail. I. Species and distribution. Aust. J. Zool. 10, 45–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, J. L. (1962 b). The food of some Innisfail mammals. Proc. R. Soc. Qd 73, 37–43.Google Scholar
Patterson, B. (1957). Mammalian phylogeny. First Symposium on Host Specificity among Parasites of Vertebrates, pp. 15–49. Neuchâtel: Paul Attinger S.A.Google Scholar
Pope, C. H. (1956). Reptile World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1962). Parasitism, immunity and evolution. In: The Evolution of Living Organisms (ed. Leeper, G. W.), pp. 149–165. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1963 a). The life history and development of Amplicaecum robertsi, an ascaridoid nematode of the carpet python (Morelia spilotes variegatus). I. Morphology and functional significance of larval stages. Parasitology 53, 7–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1963 b). The life history and development of Amplicaecum robertsi, an ascaridoid nematode of the carpet python (Morelia spilotes variegatus). II. Growth and host specificity of larval stages in relation to the food chain. Parasitology 53, 321–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1964). A study of adaptation tolerance—the growth of ascaridoid larvae in indigenous and non-indigenous intermediate hosts. Proc. First UNESCO Regional Symposium on Scientific Knowledge of Tropical Parasites, Singapore, 1962, pp. 261–6.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. M. (1961). Reproductive biology of the Australian bush rat Rattus assimilis. Univ. Calif. Publs. Zool. 60, 1–66.Google Scholar