Helminth parasites of Phyllodactylidae and Gekkonidae lizards in a Caatinga ecological station, northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Abstract:We investigated the parasites of five lizard species belonging to Phyllodactylidae (Phyllopezus pollicaris and Gymnodactylus geckoides) and Gekkonidae (Hemidactylus agrius, Lygodactylus klugei and Hemidactylus brasilianus) families in a semiarid region of Brazil. Six nematode species were identified: Parapharyngodon alvarengai and Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis (Pharyngodonidae), Physaloptera lutzi (Physalopteridae), Skrjabinelazia intermedia (Seuratidae), Trichospirura sp. (Rhabdochonidae) and Piratuba sp. (Onchocercidae), and a cestode species, Oochoristica sp. (Linstowiidae). The most prevalent species were Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis, which infected P. pollicaris (75%), and Parapharyngodon alvarengai, which infected G. geckoides (29%). South American lizards were identified as being new hosts for the Trichospirura genus (a usual parasite of mammals), and there were 16 new occurrences of parasite species in the five lizard species studied herein. Keywords

Using lizards to evaluate the influence of average abundance on the variance of endoparasites in semiarid areas: dispersion and assemblage structure

“…Concerning the host A. ocellifera , the prevalence of the nematode P. cesarpintoi was high (63.21%). In addition, the nematode, S. oxkutzcabiensis , was highly prevalent (75.14%) within the host P. pollicaris , which was a finding that was similar to that which was reported previously in Caatinga (Lima et al ., 2017). Despite being considered generalists, these species were more prevalent in particular hosts than others.…”

“…The most prevalent heteroxenic endoparasites were P. lutzi in T. hispidus (46.04%) and P. retusa in T. merianae (14.02%) (Physalopteridae). Physalopterids are endoparasites of several vertebrates (Goldberg et al ., 1998; Campião et al ., 2014) and can be found in 38 omnivorous lizards in Brazil (Ávila & Silva, 2010; Araujo Filho et al ., 2014; Lima et al ., 2017). The prevalence of these endoparasites varies according to the area considered (Brito et al ., 2014a; Lima et al ., 2017), and it may be related to changes in intermediate host communities and seasonality (Narayanan et al ., 1961; Vasconcellos et al ., 2010).…”

“…The pentastomid genus Raillietiella (Raillietiellidae) infects a wide variety of insectivorous lizards in Brazil (Vrcibradic et al ., 2002; Almeida et al ., 2008; Ribeiro et al ., 2012; Brito et al ., 2014a; Sousa et al ., 2014; Lima et al ., 2017). Herein, the genus was most highly prevalent in A. mentalis (12.9%), P. pollicaris (11.56%) and T. hispidus (10.73%) lizards.…”

“…Studies on lizard endoparasites from Caatinga have become more frequently produced in recent years (Ávila et al ., 2012; Brito et al ., 2014a; Araujo Filho et al ., 2017; Teixeira et al ., 2017; Teles et al ., 2017), but our understanding of endoparasite community structures with regard to both the abundance and aggregation patterns of parasites is lacking (Ávila et al ., 2012; Araujo Filho et al ., 2014). The endoparasitic fauna of Caatinga lizards is composed mainly of generalists, where parasite abundances are positively related to the size, sex and reproductive period of the hosts, as well as with the rainy season, which indicate that multiple factors determine the patterns of resource use by parasitic species (Anjos et al ., 2007; Almeida et al ., 2008; Ávila et al ., 2012; Lima et al ., 2017; Oliveira et al ., 2017; Teixeira et al ., 2017; Teles et al ., 2017).…”

Helminth fauna of Valentin’s Lizard Darevskia valentini (Boettger, 1892) (Squamata: Lacertidae) collected from central and eastern Anatolia, Turkey

“…Skrjabinodon alcaraziensis is recorded for the first time from Ardahan, Turkey. This species was identified first time from Algyroides marchi (Sauria: Lacertidae), Spain (Lafuente & Roca, 1995). We found one male specimen of this species (prevalence 1.38 %).…”