Pulmonary infection in two sympatric lizards, Mabuya arajara (Scincidae) and Anolis brasiliensis (Polychrotidae) from a cloud forest in Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The parameters of infection by lung parasites from two sympatric lizards, Mabuya arajara and Anolis brasiliensis, from the Atlantic Rainforest of the lower slope of Chapada do Araripe in Northeastern Brazil were analyzed between September, 2009 and July, 2010. A total of 202 lizards were collected. 125 specimens were from Mabuya arajara and 77 from Anolis brasiliensis. M. arajara was infected by the pentastomid Raillietiella mottae while A. brasiliensis was infected by the nematode Rhabdias sp., with an overall prevalence of 1.6% and 28.6%, respectively. The mean intensity of infection by Rhabdias sp. was 3.63 ± 2.58 (range 1-15). The body size and sex of lizards did not influence the intensity of infection by Rhabdias sp. The overall prevalence was also not different between males and females hosts in A. brasiliensis. Both Anolis brasiliensis and Mabuya arajara represent a new host to Rhabdias sp. and Raillietiella mottae, respectively.Keywords: lizard, pulmonary infection, pentastomida, nematoda.Infecção pulmonar em dois lagartos simpátricos, Mabuya arajara (Scincidae) e Anolis brasiliensis na mata-úmida da Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil Resumo Os parâmetros de infecção por parasitas pulmonares em dois lagartos simpátricos, Mabuya arajara e Anolis brasiliensis, da floresta úmida da encosta da Chapada do Araripe, Nordeste do Brasil, foram analisados entre setembro de 2009 e julho de 2010. Um total de 202 lagartos foi coletado, sendo 125 espécimes de Mabuya arajara e 77 de Anolis brasiliensis. M. arajara estava infectado pelo pentastomídeo Raillietiella mottae, enquanto A. brasiliensis apresentava infecção pelo nematódeo Rhabdias sp., com prevalência total de 1,6% e 28,6%, respectivamente. A intensidade média de infecção por Rhabdias sp. foi 3,63 ± 2,58 (amplitude 1-15). O tamanho e o gênero dos lagartos não influenciaram a intensidade de infecção por Rhabdias sp. A prevalência também não apresentou diferença entre machos e fêmeas em A.brasiliensis. Ambos, Anolis brasiliensis e Mabuya arajara, representam novos hospedeiros para Rhabdias sp. e Raillietiella mottae, respectivamente.Palavras-chave: lagarto, infecção pulmonar, pentastomida, nematoda.

Helminth parasites of Mabuya arajara Rebouças-Spieker, 1981 (Lacertilia: Mabuyidae) from Chapada do Araripe, northeastern Brazil

“…In this study, these parasite species were Physalopteroides venancioi, Physaloptera sp., and Strongyluris oscari. Similar records were provided by Ribeiro et al (2012a) for the pentastomid Raillietiella mottae, a lung parasite recorded in M. arajara.…”

“…The last decade, however, saw the identification of considerable species richness coming from the increased number of studies involving lizards (Ávila and Silva 2010), although in the Brazilian Caatinga domain, the knowledge of helminth faunas of lizards is still limited (Ávila and Silva 2010;Ávila et al 2012). Currently, this domain has 78 known species of lizards (Delfin 2012), of which only~30% have undergone a parasitological survey (e.g., Anjos et al 2011Anjos et al , 2012Ávila et al 2012;Ribeiro et al 2012a;Brito et al 2014).…”

“…Among the Mabuya Fitzinger 1826 (Mabuyidae) occurring in the Caatinga, the only records on parasite infection have been provided by Ribeiro et al (2012a) for lung pentastomids in M. arajara and Brito et al (2014) for intestinal helminths in M. heathi. Although lizards of this genus have a wide Neotropical distribution, in Brazil, most parasitological records are from the midwestern area, characterized by Amazonian, Cerrado, and Pantanal domains and from southeastern regions, characterized by Atlantic Forest domain (e.g., Vrcibradic et al 2002a, b;Ávila 2009;.…”

Raillietiella mottae (Pentastomida: Raillietiellidae) infecting Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) in Araripe Plateau, Northeast Brazil

“…furcocerca (Dias et al, 2005) and Micrablepharus maximiliani Reinhardt and Lütken, 1862 parasitized by R. mottae Almeida, Freire and Lopes (Almeida et al, 2009), all in restinga environments; Trachylepis atlantica (Schmidt, 1945) infected by R. freitasi (Motta and Gomes, 1968), in Fernando de Noronha Island, Pernambuco state. On the domain of Caatinga, Northeast Brazil, R. mottae and R. frenata Ali, Riley and Self, 1981 were found parasitizing Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818) in human habitations (Anjos et al, 2007;Almeida et al, 2008c), the remaining records include only R. mottae infecting: Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (Almeida et al, 2008a(Almeida et al, , b, 2009Brito et al, 2014), T. semitaeniatus (Spix, 1825) (Almeida et al, 2008b(Almeida et al, , 2009Brito et al, 2014), Phyllopezus periosus Rodrigues, 1986(Almeida et al, 2008bBrito et al, 2014), P. pollicaris (Spix, 1825) (Almeida et al, 2008b;Sousa et al, 2010Sousa et al, , 2014Brito et al, 2014), M. arajara Rebouças-Spieker, 1981(Ribeiro et al, 2012a, and H. mabouia (Sousa et al, 2014).…”

“…Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) it is a medium-sized lizard in relation to other terrestrial Neotropical lizards (Vitt and Colli, 1994), diurnal, inhabiting preferably open areas, ecotones and degraded environments (Vitt and Colli, 1994;Vitt, 1995;Ribeiro et al, 2012b). In all pulmonary parasitology work carried out with lizards, the gekkota clade is the species with the highest rates of pentastomid infection (Almeida et al, 2008a(Almeida et al, , b, c, 2009Brito et al, 2014;Ribeiro et al, 2012a;Sousa et al, 2014). Thus, investigative studies with other families of lizards, such as Teiidae, offer the opportunity to identify patterns of pulmonary infection involving different groups of lizards.…”