Research
My research focus from my MPhil and currently on my PhD have been the implications of corallivory for the trematodes of fishes of the Tropical Indo-West Pacific (TIWP). During tahese studies I have been considering parasites belonging to the trematode family Faustulidae. Parasites from this family, belonging to the genus Paradiscogaster, comprises of rich complexes of species in the TIWP, and some groups of species of this genus are only distributed in corallivorous fishes, indicating that this special diet is a key in the study of these parasites.
In coral reef fishes, most of the dietary habits associated with parasites infections are well studied, however, the implications of corallivory on the parasite fauna are only just starting to be studied in one group of fishes, the chaetodontids. For most of the other corallivorous fishes it remains completely unknown what parasites are transmitted though a diet of coral.
Publications
2016
Díaz, P.E., Muñoz, G. and George-Nascimento, M. (2016). A new species of Hemipera Nicoll, 1913 (Digenea: Derogenidae) from fishes of the intertidal rocky zone of Chile. Acta Parasitologica 61, 516–522. DOI:10.1515/ap-2016-0068
Cribb, T.H., Bray, R.A., Díaz, P.E., Huston, D.C., Kudlai, O., Martin, S.B., Yong, R.Q-Y. and Cutmore, S.C. Trematodes of fishes of the Indo-west Pacific: told and untold richness. Systematic Parasitology 93 (3), 237–247
Rodney A. Bray, Díaz, P.E. and Cribb, T.H. (2016). Knowledge of marine fish trematodes of Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans. Systematic Parasitology 93,. DOI:10.1007/s11230-016-9629-9
2015
Muñoz, G. and Díaz, P.E. (2015) Checklist of parasites of labrid fishes (Pisces: Labridae).. George-Nascimento, M. & Landatea, M. (Eds.). Valparaíso, Chile. 95 pp.
Díaz, P.E., Bray, R.A., Cutmore, S.C., Ward, S. and Cribb, T.H. (2015). A complex of species related to Paradiscogaster glebulae (Digenea: Faustulidae) in chaetodontid fishes (Teleostei: Perciformes) of the Great Barrier Reef. Parasitology International 64,. DOI:10.1016/j.parint.2015.06.004
2013
Díaz, P.E. and Cribb, T.H. (2013). Paradiscogaster leichhardti n. sp. (Digenea: Faustulidae) in Chaetodontoplus meredithi (Perciformes: Pomacanthidae) from Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 58,.
Díaz, P.E., Bray, R.A. and Cribb, T.H. (2013). Paradiscogaster flindersi and P. oxleyi n. sp. (Digenea: Faustulidae): Overlapping host and geographical distributions in corallivore chaetodontid fishes in the tropical Indo-west Pacific. Systematic Parasitology 86,. DOI:10.1007/s11230-013-9434-7
2010
Díaz, P.E. and Muñoz, G. (2010). Dieta y parásitos del pez insular Scartichthys variolatus (Blenniidae) de la Isla Robinson Crusoe, Chile: ¿qué tanto difiere con la de dos congéneres continentales?. 45.
Díaz, P.E. and Muñoz, G. (2010) Diet and parasites of the insular fish Scartichthys variolatus (Blenniidae) from Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile: How different is this from two continental congeneric species?. Revista de Biologia Marina y Oceanografia 45. DOI:10.4067/S0718-19572010000200011
