A new species of pentastomida infecting Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from Caatinga in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This article describes a new species of Brazilian Raillietiella Sambon, 1910 from lungs of Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825). Between July and October 2005 eighteen specimens of T. hispidus were actively captured with elastic rubber slings in granite outcrops (lajeiros) (06° 59' S and 39° 31' W) from caatinga formations in the municipality of Farias Brito, State of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil. One female and one male of T. hispidus had lungs infected by Raillietiella mottae sp. nov. (prevalence 11.1% and mean intensity of infection 6.0 ± 1.4, range 5-7). The parasite's main diagnostic characteristics include the dimensions of sharp hooks and strongly curved or "C-shaped" male copulatory spicules with knob-like posterior projection from the base towards the inner curvature of the spicule.Keywords: Endoparasites, Lizards, Raillietiella, neotropical region. Uma nova espécie de Pentastomida infectando Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) da Caatinga na região Nordeste do Brasil ResumoEste artigo descreve uma nova espécie de Raillietiella Sambon, 1910 a partir dos pulmões de Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825). Entre julho a outubro de 2005, dezoito espécimes de T. hispidus foram coletados ativamente usando-se estilingues em formações rochosas (lajeiros) (06° 59'S e 39° 31'W) no domínio da caatinga no município de Farias Brito, estado do Ceará, nordeste do Brasil. Uma fêmea e um macho de T. hispidus tinham seus pulmões infectados por Raillietiella mottae sp. nov. (prevalência 11,1% e intensidade média de infecção 6,0 ± 1,4, amplitude 5-7). As principais características diagnósticas dos parasitas incluem as dimensões dos ganchos com ponta aguda e as espículas copulatórias curvadas ou "em forma de C", com base posterior em forma de maçaneta, cuja parte distal é direcionada para o interior da curvatura da espícula.Palavras-chave: Endoparasitas, Lagartos, Raillietiella, região neotropical.

Pentastomid, Raillietiella mottae Almeida, Freire and Lopes, 2008, infecting lizards in an area of caatinga, northeast, Brazil

“…The highest rates of prevalence and mean intensity of infection were found in P. periosus. Almeida et al (2008b), using data from literature reports, emphasized the possibility of specificity of R. mottae parasitizing T. hispidus, which had not yet been recorded as a host of any species of pentastomid. Almeida et al (2008b) stated that together with morphological evidence, such evaluation would reinforce the proposition for the existence of a new species.…”

“…The pentastomids collected were cleared in Hoyer's medium, temporarily slide-mounted and preserved in ethanol 70%. Identification was performed based on dimensions of the hooks and copulatory spiculae of males, with the aid of a microscope with a micrometric eyepiece (see Ali et al, 1984;1985;Almeida et al, 2008b).…”

“…In Brazil, except from one review and a few phylogenetic studies (Rego, 1984;Almeida and Christoffersen, 1999;2002), research on these animals has been restricted to their occurrence and descriptions of new species (Motta, 1963a, b;Motta and Gomes, 1968;Rego, 1983;Almeida et al, 2006a,b;Almeida et al 2008b;Dias et al, 2005;Anjos et al, 2005). Also, only the pentastomid species Raillietiella freitasi (Motta and Gomes, 1968) was described as parasitizing the lungs of Mabuya punctata (Spix, 1825), a lizard of the Fernando de Noronha Island (Motta and Gomes, 1968).…”

“…Recent publications have included evaluations on infection rates, prevalence, and mean intensity of infection in studies of snakes, amphisbaenians and lizards of the northeastern region of Brazil (Dias et al, 2005;Almeida et al, 2006a;Almeida et al 2006b;Almeida et al 2007;Almeida et al 2008a;Almeida et al 2008b;Anjos et al, 2008), nevertheless, only four lizard species were investigated. Dias et al (2005) reported a likely new species of Raillietiella aff.…”

“…ocellifer (Spix, 1825) in a restinga habitat in the state of Bahia. Almeida et al (2008b) investigated infection caused by R. mottae in the lungs of Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) living in the semi-arid region of Cariri, state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil. Anjos et al (2008) reported Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818), a dwelling's invader gecko in the Cariri region (municipality of Barbalha, Ceará state), as a new host of R. mottae.…”