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

Abstract

We provide data on the helminth fauna from the digestive tract of the lizard Mabuya arajara Rebouças-Spieker, 1981 from Chapada do Araripe, northeastern Brazil. Seventy one of the 127 lizards examined (56%) were infected with four nematode species: Physalopteroides venancioi and Physaloptera sp. (Physalopteridae), Strongyluris oscari (Heterakidae), and Parapharyngodon alvarengai (Pharyngodonidae), the latter being the component species (prevalence 53.5%; mean intensity of infection 3.37 ± 2.0; discrepancy index D = 0.69). The helminth P. alvarengai infected M. arajara throughout the year and showed increased infection rates in July, at the beginning of the dry season. In addition to the relationship with seasonality, lizards with greater body length and/or body mass were more infected. Relationships between number of parasites and body mass and with the sexes of lizards, on the other hand, were not found. Mabuya arajara represents a new host for these nematodes. This study contributes to the knowledge of the helminth fauna associated with the digestive tract of lizards from South America and the Caatinga domain.

Infection patterns of helminths in Norops brasiliensis (Squamata, Dactyloidae) from a humid forest, Northeastern Brazil and their relation with body mass, sex, host size, and season

“…There were no significant differences in the average abundance of parasites regarding host sex. Previous studies also reported no occurrence of intersexual variation related to the abundance of parasites (Amo et al, 2005; Sowemimo & Oluwafemi, 2017; Cabral et al, 2018; Ribeiro et al, 2018). This may be related to the…”

“…Species of the phylum Nematoda showed high abundance and prevalence of infection in N . brasiliensis , which is a common pattern found in many studies with lizards worldwide, including members of the family Dactyloidae (Goldberg et al, 2006; Ávila & Silva, 2010; Cabrera-Guzmán & Garrido-Olvera, 2014; Araújo-Filho et al, 2016; Sowemimo & Oluwafemi, 2017; Cabral et al, 2018). The high abundance of these endoparasites in reptiles may be related to their life cycle, diet, and lifestyle that favors infections by this group (Cabrera-Guzmán & Garrido-Olvera, 2014; Sowemimo & Oluwafemi, 2017).…”

“…reproductive period, which may indicate that investment in reproduction is greater than in defense against parasites for both sexes (Zuk & McKean, 1996; Amo et al, 2005; Roberts et al, 2004; Martin et al, 2008; Cabral et al, 2018), as well as behavior and lifestyle of the host species that influence the exposure to parasites (Sowemimo & Oluwafemi, 2017; Ribeiro et al, 2018).…”

“…Lizards act as hosts for many groups of parasites, are good models for ecological studies because they are easy to identify, and are widely distributed around the world (Huey & Pianka, 1981; Ávila & Silva, 2010; Roca & Galdón, 2010). In Brazil, the number of studies on the helminth fauna of lizards is increasing (Ávila & Silva, 2010; Ávila et al, 2011; Pereira et al, 2012; Macedo et al, 2017), although approximately 70 % of the lizard species from the Northeast have still not been investigated for parasites (Ávila et al, 2012; Ribeiro et al, 2012; Araújo-Filho et al, 2016; Cabral et al, 2018).…”

Endoparásitos De Philodryas Olfersii (Lichtenstein, 1823) en Ambientes De Restinga Del Delta Del Río Parnaiba, Nordeste De Brasil

“…Regarding nematodes, we registered two specimens of P. venancioi in the host small intestine. The Physalopteroides genus is distributed worldwide (Bursey & Goldberg, 1994;Al-Moussawi, 2016); however, only P. venancioi is registered in South America Ávila & Silva, 2010;Cabral et al, 2018). Despite the P. venancioi life-cycle remains poorly known (Bursey et al, 2005), this genus has heteroxenic life-cycle, with an intermediated invertebrate host and a vertebrate (amphibian, lizard, bird or small rodent) as a final host (Anderson, 2000;Al-Moussawi, 2016).…”