Dickdellia on Colossendeis : testing ectoparasitism with stable isotopes

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: Melzer, Roland R., Lehmann, Tobias, Mayr, Christoph
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2020
• Subjects: Geology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Oceanography; Dietz; Antarctic Science
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102020000127; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102020000127

Many pycnogonids are ectoparasites of benthic invertebrates. Even gastropods are on their menu (reviewed in Dietz et al. 2018). It is somewhat ironic that a marine gastropod, Dickdellia labioflecta (Dell, 1990), might have reversed this principle. Hedgpeth (1964), Sirenko (2000) and Schiaparelli et al. (2008) observed clutches of eggs and young Dickdellia snails on pycnogonids. Sirenko (2000) suggested that this might be a case of ectoparasitism and not just phoresy.