Morphology and molecular analysis ofOncicola venezuelensis(Acanthocephala: Oligacanthorhynchidae) from the ocelotLeopardus pardalisin Brazil

Abstract

Oncicola venezuelensis Marteau, 1977 was found parasitizing adults of Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus) found dead in Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí state, Brazil, a new geographical locality reported for the species. The diversity of Oncicola Travassos, 1916 species is large, but genetic data are scarce. This article presents the results of genetic, morphological and ultrastructural studies carried out for taxonomic purposes. The first ultrastructural view showed a globular, short proboscis with 36 hooks, divided into six longitudinal rows of six hooks each. Hooks differ in size and shape: hooks I, II and III have a 'chisel-shaped' tip. The genetic profile included new sequences of ribosomal DNA ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2, and partial 28S rRNA regions. The results of maximum-likelihood tree analyses for each region showed Oligacanthorhynchidae Southwell et Macfie, 1925 close to Gigantorhynchidae Hamann, 1892 (supported >91%). Both use mammals and birds as definitive hosts. Morphological and ultrastructural studies combined with genetic analysis shed more light on the diversity of Oncicola species.

Phylogeny and Life Cycles of the Archiacanthocephala with a Note on the Validity of Mediorhynchus gallinarum

“…Definitive hosts of Archiacanthocephala have been described as strictly terrestrial [1] and include hedgehogs, marsupials, rodents, carnivores and several orders of birds [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Archiacanthocephalans use invertebrates such as millipedes, termites and cockroaches [9][10][11][12][13] as intermediate hosts. Even when there are several species descriptions and ecological aspects of their natural history, the understanding of archiacanthocephalan evolution has not benefited from extensive usage of molecular data in phylogenetic analyses as is the case of the classes Palaeacanthocephala Meyer, 1931 and Eoacanthocephala Van Cleave, 1936 [14][15][16][17][18].…”

Intestinal Parasites of Neotropical Wild Jaguars, Pumas, Ocelots, and Jaguarundis in Colombia: Old Friends Brought Back from Oblivion and New Insights

“…The acanthocephalan genus Oncicola , consisting of twenty-four recognized species, has been circulating in South American felines for almost 9000 years [ 53 , 54 ]. Some scattered reports of O. canis, O. oncicola , and O. venezualensis have been reported in jaguars, ocelots, pumas, and margays across the American continent [ 13 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. We report this parasite genus in free-ranging jaguars and ocelots in Colombia for the first time since 1968 [ 61 ].…”

Oncicola venezuelensis () (Acanthocephala: Oligacanthorhynchidae) in Puma concolor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…and Conepatus sp., and O. luehei (Travassos, 1917) from Nasua nasua (Linn., 1766), in Pará, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul; O. macrurae (Meyer, 1931) from Leopardus wiedii (Schinz, 1821) in Pará; O. magalhaesi (Machado Filho, 1962) from Puma concolor (Linn., 1771) in São Paulo; O. micracantha (Machado Filho, 1949) from Conepatus chinga (Molina, 1782) in Rio Grande do Sul; O. paracampanulata (Machado Filho, 1963) from Puma yagouaroundi (Saint-Hilaire, 1803) in São Paulo, Paraná and Pará; O. oncicola (Ihering, 1892) from Panthera onca (Linn., 1758) in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, from P. yagouaroundi and Leopardus pardalis (Linn., 1758) in São Paulo and from L. wiedii in Pará; and O. campanulata (Diesing, 1851) from L. pardalis, Leopardus geoffroyi, P. onca and P. concolor, and O. chibigouzouensis (Machado Filho, 1963) from L. pardalis, in Mato Grosso (Vieira et al, 2008). The morphological description of O. venezuelensis form L. pardalis in the Serra da Capivara, Piauí was associated with molecular techniques once by Santos et al (2017).…”