Ophryocystis elektroscirrha
| Ophryocystis elektroscirrha | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| (unranked): | Sar |
| (unranked): | Alveolata |
| Phylum: | Apicomplexa |
| Class: | Conoidasida |
| Subclass: | Gregarinia |
| Order: | Neogregarinorida |
| Family: | Ophryocystidae |
| Genus: | Ophryocystis |
| Species: | O. elektroscirrha |
| Binomial name | |
|
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha McLaughlin & Myers, 1970 |
|
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (sometimes abbreviated OE or O.e.) is an obligate, neogregarine parasite that infects monarch (Danaus plexippus) and queen (Danaus gilippus) butterflies. There are no other known hosts. The species was first discovered in Florida, around the late 1960s. Since then, it has been found in every monarch population examined to date, including monarchs sampled in North America, Hawaii, Australia, Cuba, and Central and South America.
Dormant spores occur on the cuticles of butterflies, in between the butterfly's scales. They are small, brown or black objects about 1/100th the width of a butterfly scale.
The only currently known way of treating the Ophryocystis parasite is by soaking the host's eggs in a light bleach solution, which kills the spores that are present on the eggs' surface.
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha is usually transmitted from females to their offspring when the females scatter spores on their egg chorions and surfaces of milkweed leaves, the host plant of monarchs and queens, during oviposition (egg laying). Milkweeds contains toxins that partially protect monarch larvae. The spores are ingested by the larvae. After they enter a host's gut, the spores open and emerging sporozoites penetrate a larva's gut wall and migrate to its hypoderm (the layer of cells that secrete the larva's cuticle), where they undergo two phases of vegetative reproduction. After the caterpillar pupates, O. elektroscirrha starts reproducing sexually. Three days before adults emerge, developing parasite spores can be seen through their pupal integuments. The adult butterflies emerge covered with spores, mostly on their abdomens. Parasites do not continue to replicate on adult butterflies and spores must be eaten by larvae before they can cause new infections.
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Wikipedia