The nematode community in the Atlantic rainforest lizard Enyalius perditus Jackson, from south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

Studies focusing on communities of helminths from Brazilian lizards are increasing, but there are many blanks in the knowledge of parasitic fauna of wild fauna. This lack of knowledge hampers understanding of ecological and parasitological aspects of involved species. Moreover, the majority of research has focused on parasitic fauna of lizards from families Tropiduridae and Scincidae. Only a few studies have looked at lizards from the family Leiosauridae, including some species of Enyalius. This study presents data on the gastrointestinal parasite fauna of Enyalius perditus and their relationships with ecological aspects of hosts in a disturbed Atlantic rainforest area in the state of Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil. Two nematode species, Oswaldocruzia burseyi [(Molineidae) and Strongyluris oscari (Heterakidae) were found. Nematode species showed an aggregated distribution in this host population, with O. burseyi being more aggregated than S. oscari. The present study extends the range of occurrence of O. burseyi to the Brazilian continental area. IntroductionThe host -parasite relationship is an important parameter in the study of animal communities, as such relationships affect population dynamics and community structure (Rocha et al. The genus Enyalius Wied, 1821 is comprised of nine species (Sociedade Brasileira de Herpetologia, 2010) of diurnal, insectivorous lizards (Sousa & Cruz, 2008;Barreto-Lima, 2009) well distributed throughout different biomes in Brazil, such as the Atlantic rainforest (Etheridge, 1969;Vanzolini, 1972Vanzolini, , 1974Jackson, 1978), Amazon (Á vila-Pires, 1995;Vitt et al., 1996), Caatinga (semi-arid brush) and Cerrado (savanna-like vegetation) (Bertolotto et al., 2002;Rodrigues et al., 2006). Despite the wide distribution of Enyalius, few studies have addressed its helminth fauna and parasite ecology (Vicente et al., 1993;Durette-Desset et al., 2006;Sousa et al., 2007;Vrcibradic et al., 2007Vrcibradic et al., , 2008. Enyalius perditus

Diet and helminths of Enyalius brasiliensis (Lacertilia, Iguania, Leiosauridae) in an Atlantic Rainforest remnant in southeastern Brazil

“…The low prevalence (under 15%) observed in the present study and in that of Vrcibradic et al (2007) suggest that lizards of the genus Enyalius are not the preferred hosts of Physaloptera spp. Our data is in agreement with evidences from previous studies (Sousa et al, 2007, Barreto-Lima et al, 2012 which suggest that helminth communities of Enyalius spp. tend to be depauperate in terms of species richness.…”

“…Studies regarding ecological aspects of species in this genus demonstrated that these lizards are generalist predators that feed predominantly on arthropods (Vanzolini 1972, Vitt et al, 1996, Zamprogno et al, 2001, Marques and Sazima 2004, Van Sluys et al, 2004, Teixeira et al, 2005, Rautenberg and Laps 2010, Barreto-Lima and Souza 2011, and may present inter-sexual differences in diet composition Cruz 2008, Sturaro and. There is also some information regarding helminths associated with lizards of the genus Enyalius (Sousa et al, 2007, Ávila and Silva 2010, Barreto-Lima et al,, 2012, but data are still lacking for most species.…”

Assessing the influence of geographic distance in parasite communities of an exotic lizard

“…Populations of exotic species usually have lower numbers of parasite species than native populations (Torchin et al 2003), because parasites are often left behind during the course of the host range expansion (Phillips et al 2010), and this is cited as one of the reasons for the success of many introduced species (Keane and Crawley 2002). Contrary to what was expected for an exotic species, H. mabouia has about the same number of parasite species compared to native populations of other Brazilian lizard species (Menezes et al 2004;Anjos et al 2011;Barreto-Lima et al 2011;Anjos et al 2012).…”

Feeding habits of Enyalius perditus (Squamata: Leiosauridae) in an Atlantic Forest remnant in southeastern Brazil

“…Enyalius perditus lizard that occurs in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest in the states of Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, et al 2000). Information on the biology of E. perditus has increased in recent years, with studies available regarding activity, feeding habits and space use (Souza and Cruz 2008, Barreto-Lima 2009, Sturaro and Silva 2010, Barreto-Lima and Sousa 2011, Barreto-Lima et al 2013, morphology (Sturaro andSilva 2010, BarretoLima andSousa 2011), reproductive aspects (Barreto-Lima and Sousa 2006, Sturaro and Silva 2010), parasitism (Durette-Desset et al 2006, Sousa et al 2007, Vrcibradic et al 2008, Barreto-Lima et al 2012), and description of et al 2000. Few populations of E. perditus in the Atlantic Forest have been the subjects of ecological studies, and no populations in the state of Rio de Janeiro were investigated.…”