Endoparasite community of anurans from an altitudinal rainforest enclave in a Brazilian semiarid area

Abstract

In the present study, we aimed to describe the composition of endoparasites associated with anurans from an altitudinal rainforest enclave in northeastern Brazil. Additionally, we tested if microhabitat use influences endoparasite abundance and richness, as well as the hypothesis that larger frogs tend to be more parasitized. We sampled 306 individuals from 25 anuran species that were necropsied and analysed using a stereomicroscope. The total endoparasite prevalence was 79.08%, with a parasitic community consisting of 46 taxa. Overall, we found the common pattern described for Neotropical amphibians, which is the predominance of generalist and direct-cycle parasites. Twenty new host records and two possible new parasite species were found, highlighting the importance of this type of inventory. We also observed that microhabitat use was associated with a significant difference in parasite richness between groups, in which arboreal and terrestrial species, and aquatic and arboreal species contributed to these differences. Moreover, larger frogs tended to be more parasitized regarding only an interspecific view. Our results suggest that parasite richness is directly related to infection cycle and how the host exploits its habitat.

Pattern of anuran infection by acanthocephalans from the Cerrado, Northeastern Brazil with a summary for South America

“…The genus Centrorhynchus is an example of an acanthocephalan that uses amphibians to reach its definitive hosts (birds and terrestrial predators) (Hernandez-Orts et al 2019;Kennedy 2006;Santos and Amato 2010b). The taxon comprises 100 species (Amin 2013) and is one of the most frequently recorded acanthocephalan genera in South American anurans, distributed across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru (Torres and Puga 1996;Goldberg and Bursey 2003;Campião et al 2014a;Martins-Sobrinho et al 2017;Oliveira et al 2019;Oliveira et al 2022). In Brazil, it has already been recorded in the Atlantic Forest (Graça et al 2017;Martins-Sobrinho et al 2017) and Caatinga (Oliveira et al 2022).…”

“…The taxon comprises 100 species (Amin 2013) and is one of the most frequently recorded acanthocephalan genera in South American anurans, distributed across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru (Torres and Puga 1996; Goldberg and Bursey 2003; Campião et al 2014a; Martins-Sobrinho et al 2017; Oliveira et al 2019; Oliveira et al 2022). In Brazil, it has already been recorded in the Atlantic Forest (Graça et al 2017; Martins-Sobrinho et al 2017) and Caatinga (Oliveira et al 2022). Santos (2010a) categorised the anuran Rhinella fernandezae as a paratenic host of Centrorhynchus sp., which suggests, in the present study, that the five species of anurans infected by this taxon are paratenic hosts.…”

“…In South America, there are records of acanthocephalans in Peru (Bursey et al 2001; Chero et al . 2014), Chile (Fernandez and Ibarra 1990), Argentina (Arredondo and de Pertierra 2009; Gonzalez and Hamann 2006; Hamann et al 2006), Colombia (Goldberg and Bursey 2003), Paraguay (Smales 2007a), Ecuador (Smales 2007b), and Brazil, with distributions in the Atlantic Forest (Aguiar et al 2014; Graça et al 2017; Martins-Sobrinho et al 2017; Toledo et al 2013), Cerrado (Aguiar et al 2021; Queiroz et al 2020), Caatinga (Oliveira et al 2019; Oliveira et al 2022; Silva-Neta et al 2020), and Pantanal (Campião et al 2016; Campião et al 2014b) biomes. Although Brazil’s ecosystems remain insufficiently explored, they boast the highest diversity of acanthocephalans on the continent.…”

Helmintos que infectan el escuerzo de Carvalho Odontophrynus Carvalhoi del estado brasileño de ceará

“…In Brazil, seven species of this genus are known. G. parvicava is well distributed in Neotropical region and has already been reported as parasites of several anurans in Brazil, such as Leptodactylus chaquensis, Cei, 1950, L. labyrinthicus, (Spix, 1824 et al, , (Alcantara et al, 2022Oliveira et al, 2022).…”

New insights into a poorly known parasite, Dero lutzi (Oligochaeta: Naididae), associated with tree frogs of the genus Scinax: morphological evaluation and genotypic data

“…Existing records of D. lutzi in tree frogs are restricted to South American countries (Brazil and Venezuela), with Brazilian occurrences in hosts in the states of Ceará, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and São Paulo (Rodrigues & Maldonado, 1982 cited by Morais et al, 2017 ; Prado et al, 2003 ; Oda et al, 2015 ; Morais et al, 2017 ; Cañizales, 2020 ; Oliveira et al, 2022 ; Silva et al, 2022 ; Vrcibradic et al, 2023 ). In this study, we recorded D. lutzi in two tree frog species of the family Hylidae, which are Scinax fuscovarius Lutz, 1925 and Scinax nasicus Cope, 1862.…”