Reproductive Allometry of<i>Podocnemis expansa</i>(Testudines: Podocnemididae) in Southern Brazilian Amazon

Portelinha, Thiago Costa Gonçalves; Malvásio, Adriana; Piña, Carlos Ignácio; Bertoluci, Jaime

doi:10.1670/11-288

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In Brazil, this carapace width range is required for the slaughter of chelonians kept in captivity (BRASIL, 2008). In the Javaés River, wild animals were captured either by fishing with barbless fish hooks or by trawling (PORTELINHA et al, 2013) and were marked by drilling the tenth marginal scute of the carapace (MALVASIO et al, 2002). In the breeding facilities, chelonians were manually captured with the aid of a fishing hand net with a 40 cm diameter and 50 cm bag depth.…”

Section: Animal and Blood Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and parasitemia of Haemogregarina sp. in Podocnemis expansa (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from the Brazilian Amazon

Picelli

Carvalho

Viana

et al. 2015

Rev. Bras. Parasitol. Vet.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Seventy-five turtles Podocnemis expansa in the Brazilian Amazon were examined for the presence of ectoparasites and hemoparasites. Samplings were performed in three study areas in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. Twenty-five specimens were sampled per study area (a commercial breeding facility, an indigenous subsistence breeding facility and a wild population of the Javaés River). Hemoparasites of the genus Haemogregarina were found in 66% (50/75) of the turtle specimens, and the infections were restricted to the commercial breeding facility and to the wild population of the Javaés River. The mean level of parasitemia was 54/2,000 erythrocytes (2%). There was no correlation between the body condition index of the chelonians and the level of parasitemia, with no significant difference between genders. No leeches were observed during the physical exams in any of the study areas, but the specimens from the commercial breeding facility were in poor physical condition with shell deformities and the presence of a relatively high amount of skin ulcerations, most likely caused by fungi and bacteria. This was the first study to record the occurrence of hemogregarines on a population scale in P. expansa and helps to increase knowledge about hemoparasites in chelonians in Brazil.Keywords: Podocnemis expansa, prevalence, Haemogregarina, freshwater turtle. ResumoSetenta e cinco tartarugas Podocnemis expansa foram examinadas para a presença de ectoparasitos e hemoparasitos na região amazônica brasileira. As coletas foram realizadas no Estado do Tocantins, Brasil. No estudo foram amostrados 25 indivíduos por local, um criatório comercial, um criatório de subsistência indígena e uma população silvestre do rio Javaés. Foram encontrados hemoparasitos pertencentes ao gênero Haemogregarina em 66% (50/75) dos animais, sendo que as infecções foram restritas ao criatório comercial e a população silvestre do rio Javaés. A parasitemia média foi de 54/2.000 eritrócitos (2%). Não houve relação entre o índice de condição corporal dos quelônios e os níveis de parasitemia e nem diferença quanto ao sexo dos animais. Não foram observadas sanguessugas durante os exames físicos, porém os animais do criatório comercial apresentaram condições físicas ruins com deformidades no casco e presença de uma quantidade relativamente alta de ulcerações na pele, provavelmente causadas por fungos ou bactérias. Este estudo registrou a primeira ocorrência de hemogregarinas em uma escala populacional de P. expansa e contribui para expandir o conhecimento de hemoparasitos em quelônios no Brasil.Palavras-chaves: Podocnemis expansa, prevalência, Haemogregarina, tartaruga de água doce.

show abstract

Section: Animal and Blood Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and parasitemia of Haemogregarina sp. in Podocnemis expansa (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from the Brazilian Amazon

Picelli

Carvalho

Viana

et al. 2015

Rev. Bras. Parasitol. Vet.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the clade Crocodilia, so far the scaling of clutch size and egg mass was to the best of our knowledge only studied without correcting for phylogeny (Thorbjarnarson, ; Werner & Griebeler, ). Information on the allometric scaling of turtles’ life histories is mostly available for single species (e.g., Portelinha, Malvasio, Piña, & Bertoluci, ; Ryan & Lindeman, ), and in the few interspecific studies, small sample sizes and nonphylogenetic analyses were used (e.g., Werner & Griebeler, ). In some cases, authors used carapace length of turtles and tortoises instead of body mass (e.g., Elgar & Heaphy, ; Iverson, ; Wilbur & Morin, ) making it difficult to compare allometries derived to other taxa, for example, to birds or mammals, due to differences in body shapes of animals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploration of differences in the scaling of life history traits with body mass within reptiles and between amniotes

Hallmann

Griebeler

2018

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Allometric relationships linking species characteristics to body size or mass (scaling) are important in biology. However, studies on the scaling of life history traits in the reptiles (the nonavian Reptilia) are rather scarce, especially for the clades Crocodilia, Testudines, and Rhynchocephalia (single extant species, the tuatara). Previous studies on the scaling of reptilian life history traits indicated that they differ from those seen in the other amniotes (mammals and birds), but so far most comparative studies used small species samples and also not phylogenetically informed analyses. Here, we analyzed the scaling of nine life history traits with adult body mass for crocodiles (n = 22), squamates (n = 294), turtles (n = 52), and reptiles (n = 369). We used for the first time a phylogenetically informed approach for crocodiles, turtles, and the whole group of reptiles. We explored differences in scaling relationships between the reptilian clades Crocodilia, Squamata, and Testudines as well as differences between reptiles, mammals, and birds. Finally, we applied our scaling relationships, in order to gain new insights into the degree of the exceptionality of the tuatara's life history within reptiles. We observed for none of the life history traits studied any difference in their scaling with body mass between squamates, crocodiles, and turtles, except for clutch size and egg weight showing small differences between these groups. Compared to birds and mammals, scaling relationships of reptiles were similar for time‐related traits, but they differed for reproductive traits. The tuatara's life history is more similar to that of a similar‐sized turtle or crocodile than to a squamate.

show abstract

“…For the blood collection, the animals were physically restrained with appropriate equipment following adequate norms (Malvasio et al 2002;Portelinha et al 2013). The free-living turtles were captured by fishing with barbless fishing hooks (Portelinha et al 2013) and tagged by carapacial perforation (Malvasio et al 2002). The animals held in captivity were captured manually by the carapace and immobilized by the physical containment (Picelli et al 2015).…”

Section: Containment and Collection Of Blood Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Haemogregarina podocnemis sp. nov.: description of a new species of Haemogregarina Danilewsky 1885 (Adeleina: Haemogregarinaidae) in free-living and captive yellow-spotted river turtles Podocnemis unifilis (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from Brazil

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Based on morphological, morphometric, and molecular data, we describe a new hemoparasite of the genus Haemogregarina Danilewsky 1885, isolated from the Brazilian aquatic turtle Podocnemis unifilis (Testudines: Podocnemididae). The new species, Haemogregarina podocnemis sp. nov. (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae), is characterized by small trophozoites with a single cytoplasmic vacuole on one side; pre-meronts with nuclear chromatin dispersed in the cytoplasm, with or without cytoplasmic vacuoles; meronts that are usually broad and slightly curved (kidney-shaped), with an average of eight small rectangular nuclei; immature gamonts (bean-shaped) with two morphological types: one with nuclear chromatin dispersed in the cytoplasm and the other with nuclei in the middle of the cell; mature gamonts of two morphological types: one with a length equal to or greater than that of the erythrocyte and the width of the nuclei similar to that of the hemoparasite and the other smaller than the erythrocyte with the width of the nuclei less than that of the hemoparasite. This is the first hemogregarine species described that infects the Brazilian turtle Po. unifilis. These findings highlight the need for further studies of Haemogregarina spp. to better determine the biodiversity of this understudied parasite group.

show abstract

Reproductive Allometry ofPodocnemis expansa(Testudines: Podocnemididae) in Southern Brazilian Amazon

Cited by 9 publications

References 18 publications

Prevalence and parasitemia of Haemogregarina sp. in Podocnemis expansa (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from the Brazilian Amazon

Prevalence and parasitemia of Haemogregarina sp. in Podocnemis expansa (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from the Brazilian Amazon

An exploration of differences in the scaling of life history traits with body mass within reptiles and between amniotes

Haemogregarina podocnemis sp. nov.: description of a new species of Haemogregarina Danilewsky 1885 (Adeleina: Haemogregarinaidae) in free-living and captive yellow-spotted river turtles Podocnemis unifilis (Testudines: Podocnemididae) from Brazil

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About