New host and distribution for the mosquito parasite Strelkovimermis spiculatus

Abstract

Strelkovimermis spiculatus, Poinar and Camino 1986 (Nematoda: Mermithidae) was found parasitizing some mosquito genera like Aedes (Ochlerotatus), Culex and Psorophora. In a mosquito distribution project in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we found nematodes infecting mosquito larvae in natural breeding sites in the outskirts of Mar del Plata city. The aim of this work was to identify this parasite in this distribution area and determine the mosquito species host. COI and 18S rRNA-ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2-28S rRNA fragment genes were described and were used for molecular identification of this nematode, confirming the morphological diagnostic traits. In this report a new host of S. spiculatus, the mosquito larvae of Culex eduardoi was detected, expanding the southeastern distribution.