Description, molecular characterization and life cycle of Serpentirhabdias mussuranae n. sp. (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae) from Clelia clelia (Reptilia: Colubroidea) in Brazil

Abstract

Serpentirhabdias mussuranae n. sp. is described from the lungs of the mussurana, Clelia clelia (Daudin, 1803), from vicinities of Lábrea, Amazonas State, Brazil. The species is characterized by the triangular oral opening, the presence of teeth (onchia) in the oesophastome, the excretory glands longer than the oesophagus and the tail abruptly narrowing in its anterior half and gradually tapering in posterior half. Among the Neotropical representatives of the genus, three species are known to possess the onchia in the oesophastome: S. atroxi, S. moi and S. viperidicus. Serpentirhabdias mussuranae n. sp. differs from S. atroxi and S. viperidicus by its triangular shape of the oral opening and the oesophastome in apical view, vs. round in the latter two congeners. Additionally, S. viperidicus has a larger oesophastome, 13–22 micrometers wide and 13–23 micrometers deep. The new species has relatively longer excretory glands than S. moi. The new species is morphologically and genetically close to S. atroxi, S. moi and S. viperidicus, all parasitic in Brazilian snakes, based on the presence of onchia and the comparison of nucleotide sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial cox1 gene (differences varied between 3.8% and 7.1%). Data on the life cycle of S. mussuranae n. sp. is provided, and the life cycle is typical of the genus Serpentirhabdias, with the combination of direct development and heterogony. Free-living larval stages and the adults of amphimictic free-living generation are described. The results of molecular phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) + partial 28S region and partial mitochondrial cox1 gene are provided.

Serpentirhabdias mexicanus n. sp. (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae), a parasitic lungworm of the nauyaca viper Bothrops asper (Serpentes: Viperidae) in the Mexican Neotropics

“…Serpentirhabdias comprises twenty species distributed worldwide (Kuzmin and Tkach, 2022 ); species of the genus can be separated in two groups because of the presence (four species) or absence (sixteen species) of onchia in the esophagostome. The new species belongs to the group with onchia, together with S. moi Machado et al, 2018 , S. mussuranae Kuzmin et al, 2020 , S. atroxi Kuzmin et al, 2016 and S. viperidicus Morais et al, 2017 . These four species also lack buccal capsule as in the new species.…”

“… OR583874, OR883410-13 Bothrops asper Puebla, Mexico Present study Serpentirhabdias eustreptos MK681423 Pantherophis obsoletus Nebraska, USA Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Serpentirhabdias fuscovenosa MH281972 Natrix natrix Kyiv, Ukraine Machado et al ( 2018 ) Serpentirhabdias elaphe MK681424 Zamenis longissimus Zakarpatska Oblast, Ukraine Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Serpentirhabdias lamothei KC130743 Leptodeira sp. Colima, Mexico Prosser et al ( 2013 ) Rhabdias africanus MG428411 Sclerophrys gutturalis Limpopo Province, South Africa Kuzmin et al ( 2017 ) Rhabdias bufonis MK681425 Rana temporaria Vicinities of Kyiv, Ukraine Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala MK860758 Rhinella marina Nicaragua Willkens et al ( 2019 ) Rhabdias fuelleborni OP654198 Rhinella marina Brazil Müller et al ( 2023 ) Sequence obtained in the present study is in bold font. …”

“…is the third species of the genus recorded in Mexico along with S. lamothei and S. fuscovenosa (see Martínez-Salazar and León-Règagnon, 2006 ). However, it is the first species with onchia described in the country (see Kuzmin et al, 2020 ). Among Serpentirhabdias species, onchia were first described in S. atroxi .…”

“…fuscovenosa MH281970 Nerodia erythrogaster Tennessee, USA Machado et al ( 2018 ) Serpentirhabdias moi MH281968 Chironius exoletus Pará, Brazil Machado et al ( 2018 ) Serpentirhabdias atroxi MH281969 Bothrops atrox Pará, Brazil Machado et al ( 2018 ) Serpentirhabdias mussuranae MK681422 Clelia clelia Amazon, Brazil Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Serpentirhabdias viperidicus KX354358 Bothrops moojeni São Paulo, Brazil Morais et al ( 2017 ) Serpentirhabdias mexicanus n. sp. OR583874, OR883410-13 Bothrops asper Puebla, Mexico Present study Serpentirhabdias eustreptos MK681423 Pantherophis obsoletus Nebraska, USA Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Serpentirhabdias fuscovenosa MH281972 Natrix natrix Kyiv, Ukraine Machado et al ( 2018 ) Serpentirhabdias elaphe MK681424 Zamenis longissimus Zakarpatska Oblast, Ukraine Kuzmin et al ( 2020 ) Serpentirhabdias lamothei KC130743 …”

Globocephalus urosubulatus (Alessandrini, 1909) (Nematoda: Ancylostomatidae) in Brazil: a morphological revisitation

“…The intestine was placed in a basket and washed with water, and macro-residues were separated with the aid of a steel granulometric sieve (9.50mm opening). What passed through the sieve was then fixed in 70% ethanol, stored at room temperature according to (Ahn et al, 2015;Kuzmin et al, 2019;Morais et al, 2020) and transported in a 30L bag to the Laboratório de Parasitologia Animal, Instituto da Saúde e Produção Animal, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia. Aliquots of the material were separated into petri dishes, observed with the aid of a stereomicroscope (LEICA-ES2) and the parasites collected.…”