Rev 12/12/2024
Oxyspirura petrowi Skrjabin 1929
Female:
Male:
Ref: Pence, 1972
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
A heteroxenous parasitic nematode, infects all organs of the visual and the olfactory systems of avian species (Dunham, et al., 2016).
The nematode has been found in many wild avian species, but has particularly decimated the Northern Bobwhite populations of Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, USA. The occurrence of Oxyspirura petrowi infection has been increasing in quail populations in recent years (Dunham, et al., 2016)
Wolbachia pipientis is a bacterium endosymbiont of arthropods and nematodes. Infection by W. pipienss leads to increased female progeny in insects. Effects on nematodes are being determined (Zasada and others).
Oxyspirura petrowi and W. pipientis are both endosymbiont parasites. Oxyspirura petrowi requires an intermediate and a definitive host in its live-cycle, W. pipientis does not. The relationship between the two parasites, and their hosts is poorly understood. Recent studies indicate a correlation between the rising rates of W. pipientis and O. petrowi are decimating the Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus) in the Chihuahua Desert of New Mexico (Rech et al., 2022).
Oxyspirura petrowi is a heteroxenous nematode parasite of birds across the USA. Crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches serve as intermediate hosts of O. petrowi.
In New Mexico, the Plains Lubber Grasshopper (Brachstola magna) is infected with both Oxyspirura petrowi and W. pipientis, perhaps as an intermediate host for the nematode. The Northern Bobwhite Quail becomes infected by eating the infested grasshoppers; embryonated eggs were found in the feces of quail ater they had been fed with crickets infected with juveniles of the nematode. (Kalyanasundaram et al., 2019).
Wolbachia infection alters the sex ratio of the grasshoppers so that there are more females, which are larger than males. Female grasshoppers have a greater rate of nematode infection that males. Conseuently, the effect of Wolbachia results in a greater abundence of inermatod-infected grasshoppers in the food of the quail, and greater impact of Oxyspirura petrowi on the quail population (Rech et al., 2022).
Dunham, N., Bruno, A., Almas, S., Rollins, D., Fedynich, A., Presley, S., & Kendall, R. 2016. Eyeworms (Oxyspirura petrowi) in the Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) from the rolling plains ecoregion of Texas and Oklahoma. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 52(3), 562-567
Kalyanasundaram, A., Brym, M., Blanchard, K., Henry, C., Skinner, K., Henry, B., Dendall, R. 2019. Life-cycle of Oxyspirura petrowi (Spirurida: Thelaziidae), an eyeworm of the northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). Parasites & Vectors, 12: 1-10.
Pence, D.B. 1972. The genus Oxyspirura (Nematoda: Thelaziidae) from birds in Louisiana. Proc. Helm. Soc. Washington 39:23-28.
Rech, N.D., Au, M., Csabasllero, L., Cardoza, J., Coloma, F., Lozano, J., Moreno, M. 2022. Implications of the Infestation Rates of Wolbachia pipientis and Oxyspirura petrowi in Brachystola magna as Related to the Percentage of Eyeworm Disease in Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus) . International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology 9 (7): 2857-2863