title: Phyllodistomum folium (Trematoda: Gorgoderidae) infecting zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Ebro River, Spain.
abstract: Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) were first found in the Ebro River (Spain) in Ribaroja reservoir, in the summer of 2001. This paper reports a study to detect parasites in this bivalve species. From September 2003 to August 2004, a total of 1380 zebra mussels were collected and dissected or sectioned in paraffin and haematoxylin and eosin staining. We observed the presence of Phyllodistomum folium (Olfers, 1816) in two hosts (prevalence 0.14%). Sporocysts containing metacercariae were located within the gill lamellae. One of the mussels was collected in January and the other one in July. In both cases the shell length was >2 cm. P. folium had not been previously reported in Spain and D. polymorpha is its only known intermediate host. It represents a new invasive species in this river basin, presumably introduced together with the zebra mussels.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patología Animal, Universidad de Zaragoza, Miguel Servet, 177, Zaragoza-50013, Spain. mperilop@unizar.es
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Peribáñez
authors.forename: María L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Elrío
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gracia
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fernández de Luco
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lucientes
authors.forename: Imanol
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D049875:Dreissena / Q000469:parasitology*; D015995:Prevalence; D045483:Rivers; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014200:Trematoda / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure