Figure 1 | Scientific Reports

Figure 1

From: Range expansion of muskox lungworms track rapid arctic warming: implications for geographic colonization under climate forcing

Figure 1

The lifecycle of the protostrongylid nematodes Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis and Varestrongylus eleguneniensis. The lifecycle is indirect, involving gastropods as intermediate hosts (IH) where first stage larvae (L1) develop into infective third stage larvae (L3), the rate of which is determined by gastropod temperature. The L3 are ingested by the definitive hosts either as larvae that have emerged from the IH into the environment, or while still inside the gastropods. Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis (UP) and Varestrongylus eleguneniensis (VE) follow this life cycle pattern but differ in key thermal parameters (lower developmental threshold—Tmin, development degree-days—DD) and other life history features (e.g., host specificity, fecundity, life span)17,18,19. Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis is specific to muskoxen, is long-lived, and highly fecund, whereas VE can infect both caribou and muskoxen, has a shorter lifespan and much lower fecundity. (Artwork: M. Tomaselli).

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