Baracktrema Obamai – A Newly Discovered Parasitic That Infects Turtles in Malaysia
Baracktrema Obamai… it sounds familiar, right ? Yet, it is brand new ! It is a 2-inch parasitic flatworm that infects turtle’s blood in Malaysia. It was named after the current US President Barack Obama. But don’t get it wrong, the American Parasitologists likes to name new species after people that he has a great deal of respect for – with President Obama’s term coming to an end soon, he might appreciate the fact that a parasite is named after him.
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From the Library…
Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii ) generally prefer warm waters, but inhabit waters as far north as New Jersey, U.S.A, They migrate to the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, where they often inhabit the waters off Louisiana. Their range includes the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Almost all females return each year to a single beach—Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas—to lay eggs. Some travel as far away as the coast of Ireland, and two individuals managed to journey as far as the coasts of Devonshire, UK.
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Photo from Bernard Dupont / Flickr.
