Amphibians as definitive hosts for pentastomids: Raillietiella bufonis n.sp. from Bufo lemur in Puerto Rico and a reassessment of Raillietiella indica Gedoelst, 1921

Abstract

A new species of a cephalobaenid pentastomid infecting the lungs of a toad, Bufo lemur, from Puerto Rico is described. The single infection comprises all stages from infective larvae to mature males and females and therefore we consider the toad to be a definitive host. We reassess the evidence concerning Raillietiella indica Gedoelst, 1921, another raillietiellid from the lungs of an Indian toad, B. melanostictus which, hitherto, has been considered by most authors an immature stage from an intermediate host. It now appears that the type specimen was probably a gravid female and that R. indica is a valid species which also matures in a toad. Thus amphibians are established as a new class of definitive hosts for pentastomids.

Using Combined Morphological, Allometric and Molecular Approaches to Identify Species of the Genus Raillietiella (Pentastomida)

“…Subsequent reviews of pentastomid taxonomy and life histories subscribed to the view that R. indica was an immature stage [20] , [21] . However, in the most recent assessment Ali et al [4] concluded that R. indica was almost certainly a valid species founded on a mature type specimen, based on finding what they considered to be mature males of the same species in the same host species (their Fig. 1A ).…”

“…Toads are the only amphibians known to act as definitive hosts for raillietiellids. Three species have been reported to mature exclusively in the lungs of toads, Raillietiella bufonis in Puerto Rican Peltophryne lemur (formerly Bufo lemur ) [4] ; Raillietiella indica in Hawaiian Rhinella marina (formerly Bufo marinus ) [5] ; and Raillietiella rileyi in Malaysian Duttaphrynus melanostictus (formerly Bufo melanostictus ) [6] . Further to these three well-established host-parasite associations, Raillietiella freitasi , generally known from lizards, has been reported in Brazilian Rhinella schneideri (formerly Bufo paracnemis ) [7] , and a single unidentified raillietiellid was recovered from the lungs of Nigerian Amietophrynus regularis (formerly Bufo regularis ) [8] .…”

A review of the taxonomy and systematics of the pentastomid genus Raillietiella Sambon, 1910 with a description of a new species

“…Females of the Central American species R. bufonis, from Bufo lemur, are much larger (<23 mm, Ali et al, 1982c) than R. indica (Table II).…”

Pentastomid parasites in fish in the Olifants and Incomati River systems, South Africa

“…Adults of most species inhabit the nasal passageways and lungs of snakes, lizards and crocodilians, while others are found in the air sacs of gulls and terns, and in the nasopharynx and sinuses of canids and felids (Bakke 1972;Banaja, James & Riley 1975;Riley 1986). Two spe-cies, Raillietiella bufonis and Raillietiella indica, use amphibians as final hosts (Ali, Riley & Self 1982). The pentastomid life cycle usually includes a vertebrate intermediate host in which larvae undergo several moults to reach the infective stage (Riley 1986;Winch & Riley 1986a;Riley & Huchzermeyer 2000), but insects have been reported as intermediate hosts of some raillietiellid parasites, while Reighardia sternae, a parasite of gulls, has a direct lifecycle (Banaja et al 1975;Riley 1986).…”