Helminth community structure of Didelphis marsupialis (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in a transition area between the Brazilian Amazon and the Cerrado

Abstract

Although the common opossum, Didelphis marsupialis (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) is a species widely distributed in South America, knowledge about their helminth parasites and helminth community structure is scarce. The aims of this study were to describe the species composition and analyze the structure of the helminth community of the common opossum in an area of the Amazonian Arc in northern Mato Grosso. The helminths were recovered, counted, and identified in 32 individuals. Overall, 10,198 specimens were categorized into 9 helminths taxa (seven nematodes, one cestode, and one acanthocephalan). The most abundant species were Aspidodera raillieti, Viannaia hamata, and Travassostrongylus orloffi. No statistically significant differences in helminth abundance and prevalence were observed between host sexes. However, young hosts had higher abundance and prevalence of Didelphonema longispiculata, whereas Oligacanthorhynchus microcephalus had higher abundance and prevalence in adult hosts. This was the first study to analyze the helminth fauna and helminth community structure of D. marsupialis in the Amazonian Arc. This is the first report of the presence of A. raillieti, D. longispiculata, T. orloffi, T. minuta, V. hamata, and O. microcephalus in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

First study of the helminth community structure of Marmosa constantiae (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in an ecotone area between Cerrado and Amazonia, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

“…In studies carried out with didelphids, this relationship between host body size and helminth abundance has already been demonstrated, postulating that larger and older hosts have more parasites than young hosts (Cirino et al 2020;Freitas et al 2022) because they may acquire parasites during their lifetime.…”

“…Studies of the helminth fauna or helminth community structure of small didelphids are scarce. Most of them were carried out for large marsupials, such as Didelphis marsupialis (Freitas et al 2022), Didelphis aurita (Costa-Neto et al 2019), Didelphis albiventris (Cirino et al 2022), Metachirus myosurus (Cirino et al 2020) and Philander opossum (Ramírez-Cañas et al 2019). For the genus Marmosa, there is only one study comparing the helminth structure of two sympatric species of this genus (M. demerarae and M. murina) in French Guiana (Byles et al 2013).…”

Helminth community structure of the white-bellied woolly mouse opossum Marmosa constantiae Thomas, 1904 in Central-West Brazil

“…Regarding host body size, male host body size was an important variable for the abundance of helminth species. In studies carried out with didelphids, this relationship between host body size and helminth abundance has already been demonstrated, postulating that larger and older hosts have more parasites than young hosts (Cirino et al 2020; Freitas et al 2022) because they may acquire parasites during their lifetime.…”

“…The study of the helminth fauna of D. marsupialis , which was carried out in the same locality as the present study, reported the same helminth species richness observed for M. constantiae (nine species). However, D. marsupialis and M. constantiae shared only two species, A. raillieti and O. microcephalus, which have been registered in several didelphids (Varella et al 2022; Freitas et al 2022). Jiménez et al (2011) reported 10 helminth species for the marsupial Philander opossum in French Guiana and 12 in Mexico, among which A. raillieti and O. microcephalus were the only species in common with the present study.…”

“…Helminth community studies of Neotropical marsupials are scarce. Most of them were carried out for large marsupials, such as Didelphis marsupialis (Jiménez et al 2011;Freitas et al 2022), Didelphis aurita (Costa-Neto et al 2019), Didelphis albiventris (Silva & Costa 1999;Zabott et al 2017;Cirino et al 2022), Metachirus myosurus (Cirino et al 2020), and Philander opossum (Ramírez-Cañas et al 2019). Much attention has been paid to the species of the genus Didelphis because they can occur in high abundances in peridomicile and rural areas and are known to be reservoirs of zoonoses (Lima et al 2012;Jansen et al 2015;Bezerra-Santos et al 2020).…”