Figure 1.
Molting Raillietiella frenatus that has retained the hooks of two previous instars.
(a) Anterior view of molting R. frenatus from Hemidactylus frenatus, scale bar is 0.1 mm. (b) Close-up of posterior hooks from the same individual showing retained posterior hooks from two previous instars. The oldest hook is marked O, the intermediate aged hook is marked I, the newest hook is marked N. Photograph is compiled from five focus-stacked images of the same field of view, scale bar is 20 µm.
Figure 2.
Photographs of Raillietiella frenatus showing key features.
(a) Female Raillietiella frenatus (bearing morphological resemblance to Raillietiella indica) from Rhinella marina showing entire specimen. Note sharp anterior hooks and intermediately sharp posterior hooks. Photograph is complied from five images stitched longitudinally together. (b) Anterior view of male R. frenatus from Hemidactylus frenatus, note buccal cadre (BuCa), sharp anterior hooks (AH), relatively blunt posterior hooks (PH) and copulatory spicules (CS). (c) Anterior view of female R. frenatus from H. frenatus, note blunt posterior hooks. Scale bars are all 0.1 mm.
Figure 3.
Area of posterior hook tips of Raillietiella frenatus graphed against pentastome body length.
Small areas indicate relatively sharp hooks, large areas indicate relatively blunt hooks (see example pictures inset with sharp, intermediate and blunt hook tips).
Figure 4.
Copulatory spicules of Raillietiella frenatus and Raillietiella orientalis.
(a) Copulatory spicule of male Raillietiella frenatus from Rhinella marina. Photograph is compiled from three focus-stacked images of the same field of view, scale bar is 0.05 mm. (b) Copulatory spicule of male R. frenatus from Hemidactylus frenatus. Photograph is compiled from two focus-stacked images of the same field of view, scale bar is 0.05 mm. (c) Paired copulatory spicules of male Raillietiella orientalis from R. marina. Note flared ornamented bases, scale bar is 0.1 mm.
Table 1.
Morphological measurements of Raillietiella frenatus from Rhinella marina and Hemidactylus frenatus.
Figure 5.
Barb length (AB) versus overall length (BC) of posterior hooks of Raillietiella frenatus from Rhinella marina, Hemidactylus frenatus, and Litoria caerulea.
(a) Raw hook measurements uncorrected for pentastome body size, note two visible clusters. (b) Hook measurements corrected for pentastome body size (by calculating residual scores from a linear regression of hook measurements against pentastome body size), note that clusters now disappear.
Figure 6.
Barb length (AB) versus overall length (BC) of posterior hooks of Raillietiella frenatus from the current study compared to the literature.
Kelehear et al. (2011, current study) measured R. frenatus from Rhinella marina and Hemidactylus frenatus; Ali et al. (1981) measured R. frenatus from H. frenatus; and Barton and Riley (2004) measured “R. indica” from R. marina. All measurements corrected for pentastome body size by calculating residual scores from a linear regression of hook measurements against pentastome body size.
Figure 7.
Protocol for measuring pentastome hooks.
Photograph of right posterior hook of Raillietiella frenatus demonstrating standard procedure for measuring barb length (AB) and overall length (BC), and a new procedure for measuring bluntness of hooks.