Parasitic infection patterns in Coleodactylus meridionalis (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from Atlantic Forest fragments, northeast of the Neotropical Region

Abstract

Summary Studies that seek to understand which factors influence the patterns of infection in the lizard Coleodactylus meridionalis are non-existent. In this way, we recorded the infection rates for these lizards from three different sized fragments of the Atlantic rainforest and investigated if there is influence of the size, mass and sex of the host regarding the endoparasite abundance. In addition, we investigated if there were possible associations between the host’s diet and parasitism, by calculating the diet niche breadth (based on the prey number of pooled stomachs) for each host population and comparing the diet between fragments and sexes (from the three sampled fragments). We collected 38 lizards across the three sampled forest fragments. We only found parasites in the lizards sampled from the smallest of the three forest fragments which included: Physaloptera lutzi, Haplometroides odhneri and Oligacanthorhynchus sp. For this population, lizards with greater length and body mass have a greater endoparasite abundance. In addition, based on the results obtained in our study, the diet of the lizards varies in food composition between sampled populations. Finally, knowing that among the infected lizards there is no sexual dimorphism in relation to size and body mass and that the stomach sampling for this population is insufficient to calculate the indexes related to the food niche; we used the number of prey lizards from all populations, thus we were able to associate the fact that female lizards have a greater endoparasite abundance due to variations in food composition between sexes.

Checklist of parasites associated with ʻreptiles’ in Northeast Brazil

“…References: (1) Teixeira et al (2020); (2) Araújo Filho et al (2020); (3) Teixeira et al (2020, 2021); (4) Araújo Filho et al . (2018); (5) Matias et al (2018); (6) Brito et al (2014a, b); (7) Brito et al (2014b)…”

“…References: (1) Vicente et al (1993); (2) Ávila & Silva (2010); (3, 8, 12, 15) Brito et al (2014b), (4) Araújo Filho et al (2020); (5) Brito et al (2014a, b); (6) Dias et al (2005); (7) Teixeira et al (2018b); (9) Teixeira et al (2016); (10) Teixeira et al (2020, 2021); (11, 17) Teixeira et al (2020); (13) Lima et al (2017); (14) Teixeira et al (2018a, 2020); (16, 23) Lambertz et al (2012); (18) Anjos et al (2012); (19) Ávila et al (2012); (20) Galdino et al (2014); (21) Araujo Filho et al (2017); (22) Maia-Carneiro et al . (2018); (24) Oliveira et al (2020)…”

“…Remarks: Host A. ortonii called Norops ortonii in Teixeira et al (2020, 2021). Host G. abaetensis reported in Dias et al (2005) as C. abaetensis .…”

“…References: (1, 2) Teixeira et al (2020, 2021); (3) Teixeira et al (2018a); (4, 5) Teixeira et al (2020)…”

Temporal variation in diet and helminth abundance in the spiny-tailed lizard, Strobilurus torquatus Wiegmann, 1834 (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

“…Lizards are known to act as hosts to several parasites, such as nematodes (e.g., Brito et al, 2014a, b;Araújo-Filho et al, 2016;Teixeira et al, 2017), cestodes (e.g., Brito et al, 2014a, b;Araújo-Filho et al, 2016), trematodes (e.g., Teixeira et al, 2018;Amorim and Ávila, 2019;Araújo-Filho et al, 2020;Teixeira et al, 2021) and pentastomids (Almeida et al, 2008;Brito et al, 2014a, b;Araújo-Filho et al, 2016). These animals are excellent models for studying how ecological and evolutionary relationships determine the distribution and parasite abundance, since they inhabit different environments, utilize various foraging strategies and present different trophic interactions, body sizes, and reproductive strategies (Aho, 1990).…”