Cyclocotyla bellones

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cyclocotyla bellones
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Class: Monogenea
Order: Mazocraeidea
Family: Diclidophoridae
Genus: Cyclocotyla
Otto, 1821
Species:
C. bellones
Binomial name
Cyclocotyla bellones
Otto, 1823
Synonyms[1][2]

Species synonymy

  • Cyclocotula Mudie, 1840
  • Cyclocotyle Burmeister, 1837

Species synonymy

  • Diclidophora bellones (Otto, 1823)

Cyclocotyla is a genus of

taxon inquirendum.[2]

The sole species C. bellones is notorious for being a

isopod parasite Ceratothoa parallela (among others of the same genus), which itself feeds on the fish Boops boops and Pagellus acarne.[3]

However, in a 2022 study, it was found that the species was not truly an hyperparasite, since it did not feed on the crustacean but rather on the fish. The authors concluded "Cyclocotyla bellones is thus both an epibiont on the crustacean and a parasite of the fish. It could be considered a hyperparasite only in terms of location (it dwells on a parasite), but not in terms of nutrition (it does not feed on a parasite but on a host which is not a parasite)."[4]

References

  1. ^ "Cyclocotyla". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Cyclocotyla". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  3. PMC 8183466. Open access icon