Friday, August 04, 2006


Science marches on...

My first experiences with parasites and research involved a species that went by the moniker Corynosoma constrictum (see pic). The adult worms live in the intestines of ducks, but at Nebraska I was studying the parasite in its intermediate host (the critter which gets eaten by ducks), an amphipod. Though the parasite was never really easy to work with, and thus it drove me a little insane every now and then, I was quite fond of the creatures by the end of my tenure at the University of Nebraska. As any biologist would probably tell you, you grow to respect and admire the species that you study. They attain somekind of personal significance for you (don't ask me why though). Well, in an interesting twist of fate, Corynosoma constrictum no longer exists. No, it wasn't a victim of global warming or pollution. It didn't go extinct, it has just been renamed. A new paper in the Journal of Parasitology has called for the genus Corynosoma to be split into two new genera. One group of species will retain the name Corynosoma (species from marine hosts like seals) and the other group will now be known as Pseudocorynosoma (species from freshwater hosts, like ducks). The species that received my research attention for nearly two years, thus, is now named Pseudocorynosoma constrictum. Yeah, I must admit it's a little sad, but even when I studied the parasite I had a feeling that the taxonomy was wrong. Thus, I'm glad that someone has turned their attention to these parasites and are "fixing" their systematic affiliations. It isn't glamorous biology, but it is necessary and rather difficult. As one of my old previous professor's used to say, a fundamental question in biology is "what is it?" Seems so simple, but the answer to that question is complex and always changing. Keeps science interesting though...

Dan

p.s. While I'm on the topic of parasite taxonomy...I wonder how Noah sorted out the parasites on his big boat. Were all the free-living, recognizable animals infected with all the species of parasites (every animal species in the world harbours multiple parasite species)? Seems like a lot of extra work to make sure that the two individuals of each species also were loaded with parasites. Biological taxonomy is something we haven't even come close to sorting out yet. It's like the world's biggest knot. I thus have to come to the conclusion that Noah was one hell of a biologist.

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