?Ascaridoidea sp. nov. 'Steller's Sea Cow'
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
The precise taxonomic identity of the endoparisitic white parasitic worms reported from the guts of the Seller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) by (Steller, 1899 [1751]) is unknown, with no preserved remains available for a definitive identification (Weinstein & Patton, 2000). They may have been an ascarid nematode (Weinstein & Patton, 2000; Anderson & Domning, 2002, 2008; Carlton, 2023).
Conservation Status
Extinct (Anderson & Domning, 2002, 2008; Carlton, 2023)
Last record: 1751 or before (Steller, 1899 [1751])
Distribution
Commander Islands, Bering Sea
Anatomy & Morphology
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Anderson, P. K. and Domning, D. P. (2002). Steller’s sea cow, pp. 1178-1185. In: Perrin, W. F., Wursig, W. and Thewissen, J. G. M. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Anderson, P. K. and Domning, D. P. (2008). Seller's sea cow, pp. 1104-1106. In: Perrin, William F., Wursig, Bernd and Thewissen, J. G. M. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (2nd ed.). San Diego, California: Academic Press.
Carlton, James T. (2023). Marine Invertebrate Neoextinctions: An Update and Call for Inventories of Globally Missing Species. Diversity 15(6): 782. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060782
Steller, G. (1899 [1751]). De Bestiis Marinis ["The beasts of the sea"] (translated by W. Miller and J. E. Miller, orig. published in 1751), pp. 180-201. In: Jordan, D. (ed.). The fur seals and fur seal islands of the North Pacific Ocean. Part 3. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. [English translation reproduced by Sarah Hartwell on her Messybeast website]
Weinstein, B. and Patton, J. (2000). "Hydrodamalis gigas" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed September 10, 2024 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hydrodamalis_gigas/