Infection of Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) (Gastropoda: Tateidae) by trematodes in Poland, including the first record of aspidogastrid acquisition.

The prosobranch gastropod Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) is poorly understood as a parasite host outside its native New Zealand, including in Europe. Our aim was to ascertain whether non-native P. antipodarum could acquire aspidogastrids or digeneans in habitats where these parasites are found in native hosts. We examined 2400 P. antipodarum individuals from Sosno Lake (Poland). The majority of snails were adult females. No males were found. We found five P. antipodarum individuals with Aspidogaster conchicola and 39 snails with metacercariae of Echinoparyphium aconiatum Dietz 1909 or E. recurvatum (Linstow, 1873). Snails with metacercariae and unparasitized snails, but not snails with A. conchicola, produced embryos. Ours is the first record of an Aspidogastrea - P. antipodarum association.