Parasitic nematodes of Polychrus acutirostris (Polychrotidae) in the Caatinga biome, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

We present data on nematode infracommunity of the arboreal lizard Polycrhus acutirostris in the semiarid Caatinga biome, northeastern Brazil. Twenty-twolizard specimens collected in the municipality of Várzea Alegre in Ceará State and in the municipality of Exu in Pernambuco State were analyzed. Two species of nematodes were found, an Oxyuridae,Gynaecometra bahiensis, which had amean intensity of infection 23.5 ± 5.8 (prevalence 22%) and a Physalopteridae, Physaloptera retusa which had infection intensity of 21 (prevalence 9%). There were no significant differences between the parasitism rates of male or female lizards. Polychrus acutirostris demonstrated low richness of nematode parasites, but high levels of infection with G. bahiensis. Polychrus acutirostrisis reported here as a new host for P.retusa.

Using lizards to evaluate the influence of average abundance on the variance of endoparasites in semiarid areas: dispersion and assemblage structure

“…The most prevalent heteroxenic endoparasites were P. lutzi in T. hispidus (46.04%) and P. retusa in T. merianae (14.02%) (Physalopteridae). Physalopterids are endoparasites of several vertebrates (Goldberg et al ., 1998; Campião et al ., 2014) and can be found in 38 omnivorous lizards in Brazil (Ávila & Silva, 2010; Araujo Filho et al ., 2014; Lima et al ., 2017). The prevalence of these endoparasites varies according to the area considered (Brito et al ., 2014a; Lima et al ., 2017), and it may be related to changes in intermediate host communities and seasonality (Narayanan et al ., 1961; Vasconcellos et al ., 2010).…”

“…In the present study, we evaluate the influence of average abundance on the variance of endoparasites observed within lizards living in semiarid areas of the Caatinga in north-eastern Brazil. Studies on lizard endoparasites from Caatinga have become more frequently produced in recent years (Ávila et al ., 2012; Brito et al ., 2014a; Araujo Filho et al ., 2017; Teixeira et al ., 2017; Teles et al ., 2017), but our understanding of endoparasite community structures with regard to both the abundance and aggregation patterns of parasites is lacking (Ávila et al ., 2012; Araujo Filho et al ., 2014). The endoparasitic fauna of Caatinga lizards is composed mainly of generalists, where parasite abundances are positively related to the size, sex and reproductive period of the hosts, as well as with the rainy season, which indicate that multiple factors determine the patterns of resource use by parasitic species (Anjos et al ., 2007; Almeida et al ., 2008; Ávila et al ., 2012; Lima et al ., 2017; Oliveira et al ., 2017; Teixeira et al ., 2017; Teles et al ., 2017).…”

New records of Helminths in Reptiles from five states of Brazil

“…In the past few years, many parasitological studies focusing Brazilian reptiles have been published (Araujo-Filho et al, 2014;Barreto-Lima and Anjos, 2014;Mati et al, 2015). However, 773 species of reptile species are currently recognized in Brazil (Costa and Bernils, 2015) and less than 30% were sampled for helminths.…”

“…Studies focusing helminth parasites infecting squamate reptiles in Brazil have been increased in the past few years (Bursey et al, 2007;Ávila et al, 2011;Barreto-Lima et al, 2012;Araujo-Filho et al, 2014;Mati et al, 2015). The information gathered was also compiled on extensive literature reviews, such as for helminths of lizards and amphisbaenians and Fernandes and Kohn (2014) for trematodes of reptiles.…”

Helminths infecting Dryadosaura nordestina (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Atlantic Forest, northeastern Brazil

“…Poulin (1998) states that there is a trade-off between the performance and range of host species that a parasite can exploit. This can easily be perceived for nematodes of the genus Physaloptera , since they infect a wide range of lizards in South America (Ávila & Silva, 2010; Teixeira et al ., 2017), however, almost always followed by low prevalence of infection: P. lutzi (0.9 % ) parasitizing Ameivula ocellifera (Spix, 1825) (Ribas et al ., 1995); P. lutzi (2 % ) and P. retusa Rudolphi, 1819 (3.9 % ) in Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ribas et al ., 1998); P. retusa (5.3 % ) and P. lutzi (19.3 % ) in the lizard Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (Anjos et al ., 2012); P. retusa (9 % ) registered in Polychrus acutirostris Spix, 1825 (Araujo Filho et al ., 2014); P. retusa in the sympatric lizards Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818) (3.94 % ) and Phyllopezus pollicaris (Spix, 1825) (2.54 % ) (Sousa et al ., 2014); Physalopreta sp. (5 % ) in the stomach of Iguana iguana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Teles et al ., 2017) and more recently, P. lutzi registered by Lima (2017) parasitizing the gecko lizards P. pollicaris (3 % ), Hemidactylus brasilianus (Amara, 1935) (4.1 % ), Hemidactylus agrius Vanzolini, 1978 (1.6 % ), Gymnodactylus geckoides Spix, 1825 (12.6 % ), and Lygodactylus klugei (Smith, Martin e Swain, 1977) (1.5 % ), from northeastern Brazil.…”