First report of Tarantula-parasitic nematode Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi from Los Angeles, California

Anil Baniya; Julie Ngov; Kyle Anesko; Adler R Dillman

doi:10.17912/micropub.biology.000825

First report of Tarantula-parasitic nematode Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi from Los Angeles, California

MicroPubl Biol. 2023 Apr 27:2023:10.17912/micropub.biology.000825. doi: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000825. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Anil Baniya¹, Julie Ngov¹, Kyle Anesko¹, Adler R Dillman¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Nematology, University of California, Riverside.

Abstract

Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi is a recently described nematode parasite of tarantulas, originally isolated from a tarantula breeder in Virginia Beach, VA. We describe a new case of this parasite infecting tarantulas at a breeding facility in Los Angeles, California. Nematodes were isolated from the oral cavity of a captive bred Psalmophoeus iriminia commonly referred to as a Venezuelan sun tiger tarantula. rDNA sequencing was conducted to identify the species and generate a phylogeny tree.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Committee on Research Grant [CoR] grant from the University of California, Riverside.