Intestinal parasites of unisexual and bisexual lizards Darevskia spp. (Lacertidae) from Northeastern Anatolia

Abstract

SummaryFour bisexual and two unisexual species of the lizard genus Darevskia from northeastern Anatolia were searched for intestinal parasites in adult specimens. One cestode, Nematotaenia tarentolae, and two nematode species, Spauligodon saxicolae and Strongyloides darevskyi, were found, the latest identifi ed as a Darevskia specialist. No major differences between host species were recorded. The very low infection rates and diversity result in depauperate helminth communities for all these lacertid lizards being the lowest among the Palaearctic saurians. Patterns of these helminth communities are compared with those observed in other lacertid lizards from Anatolia and Europe.

Helminth fauna of Spiny Tailed Lizard,Darevskia rudis(Bedriaga, 1886) (Sauria: Lacertidae) from Turkey

“…The first one was reported in D. rudis by Roca et al . (2015a), the second is from D. armeniaca by Roca et al . (2016).…”

“…2016). Strongyloides darevskyi is in fact a true Darevskia specialist since it has been recorded only in species of this genus (Roca et al, 2016).…”

“…bendimahiensis and D . sapphirina (Roca et al, 2015b), D. clarkorum, D. raddei, D. parvula, D. valentini, D. armeniaca, D. unisexualis (Roca et al, 2016), Phoenicolacerta laevis (Birlik et al, 2016), Acanthocadtylus harranensis, A. schreiberi, Mesalina brevirostris (Düşen et al, 2016) and Iranolacerta brandtii (Birlik et al, 2017).…”

Research Note. The first helminth study on Brandt’s Persian Lizard Iranolacerta brandtii (De Filippi, 1863) (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Van Province, Turkey

“…Pharyngodonid nematodes of Spauligodon currently including 50 species are parasites of reptiles. Based upon the zoogeographic regions described by Holt et al (2013) (Roca et al, 2016). Spauligodon aloisei was described in Italy (Casanova et al, 2003).…”

“…Some helminth studies have been carried out on lizard species including in this genus in Turkey. These species are European Green Lizard, Lacerta viridis (Laurenti, 1768) (Schad et al, 1960); Crimean Wall Lizard Podarcis tauricus (Pallas, 1814) (Schad et al, 1960); Dwarf Lizard, Parvilacerta parva (Boulenger, 1887) (Saygı & Olgun, 1993 Başoğlu & Helmich, 1968(Düsen et al, 2013 Anatolian Lizard, Apathya cappadocica (Werner, 1902) (Birlik et al, 2015), Spiny-Tailed Lizard, Darevskia rudis (Bedriaga, 1886) (Roca et al,2015a) D. uzzelli (Darevsky, 1977, D. bendimahiensis (Schmidtler, Eiselt & Darevsky, 1994), D. sapphirina (Roca et al, 2015b) (Schmidtler, Eiselt & Darevsky, 1994), D. clarkorum (Darevsky & Vedmederja, 1977) D. raddei (Boettger, 1892, D. parvula (Lantz & Cyrén, 1913), D. valentini (Boettger, 1892), D. armeniaca (Méhely, 1909) D. unisexualis (Darevsky, 1966 (Roca et al, 2016); Lebanon lizard Phoenicolacerta laevis (Gray, 1838) (Birlik et al, 2016), Acanthodactylus harranensis Baran, Kumlutaş, Lanza, Sindaco, Ilgaz, Avci & Crucitti, 2005A. schreiberi Boettger, 1878Mesalina brevirostris Blanford, 1874(Düşen et al, 2016.…”