Koichi Hasegawa, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Applied Biology, Chubu University, and others, in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Jans Morphee, a foreign researcher (currently a researcher at the Cuban Institute for Biological Ecology and Classification), have created a new species of nematode. discovered.
The nematode discovered by Associate Professor Hasegawa and others was named "Chubudaigaku" of the genus Aorroides because it was parasitic on the oyster beetle caught in the back mountain of Chubu University Kasugai Campus (Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture) and was internationally certified. rice field.
"Chubudaigaku" is a group of parasites called oxyurida that parasitize the intestines of most animals and is not pathogenic. "Chubudaigaku" and its companions have been found to be good symbiotic partners that mainly parasitize the Bratdea insects (commonly known as cockroaches) and regulate the host's immune system and health balance.
Cockroach ancestors entered the land 3 million years ago and are believed to have prospered as the main terrestrial organisms of the Carboniferous of the Paleozoic era. The ancestors of "Chubudaigaku" invaded the intestines of cockroaches at that time, and a good symbiotic relationship was established.According to the "parasite evolution hypothesis" currently being proposed, this symbiotic relationship has spread to all animals from cockroaches.
