Helminths from an Introduced Species (Tupinambis merianae), and Two Endemic Species (Trachylepis atlantica and Amphisbaena ridleyi) from Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Abstract

The present study reports the occurrence of helminths in the introduced species Tupinambis merianae (tegu lizard), and in two endemic species Trachylepis atlantica (small lizard) and Amphisbaena ridleyi (two-head-snake lizard ), from Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, State of Pernambuco, Brazil. Nine species of helminths were found, mainly in the digestive tract and accessory organs, with the following prevalence (P) and mean infection intensity (MII). Tupinambis merianae: Diaphanocephalus galeatus (P = 96%, MII = 20.5), Spinicauda spinicauda (P = 100%, MII = 197.8), and Oochoristica sp.l (P = 20%, MII = 4.4). Trachylepis atlantica: Moaciria alvarengai (P = 20%, MII = 1.4), S. spinicauda (P = 92%, MII = 22.1), Mesocoelium monas (P = 4%, MII = 3.0), Platynosomum sp. (P = 8%, MII = 7.0), and Oochoristica sp.2 (P = 16%, MII = 1.25). Amphisbaena ridleyi: Aplectana albae (P = 96%, MII = 143.4), Thelandros alvarengai (P = 4%, MII = 1.0), Me. monas (P = 44%, MII = 2.8), Platynosomum sp. (P = 36%; MII = 13.8), and Oochoristica sp.2 (P = 48%; MII = 2.17). More than 80% of T. merianae were infected with 2, or more, helminth species. In Tr. atlantica, single-species infections were present in 50% of the specimens, but co-occurrence of 2 parasites was also high (41.7%). In A. ridleyi, multiple infections were more common, with up to 5 parasite species present. The helminth fauna observed allowed us to conclude that helminths can be carried together with their host when they colonize new geographic localities and that these introduced helminths can, in turn, colonize endemic, or native, hosts.

Helminths of the Lizard Salvator merianae (Squamata, Teiidae) in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil

“…There are three species of the genus Diaphanocephalus Diesing, 1851 in Brazil: D. diesingi Freitas and Lent, 1938 parasitizing the small intestine of T. teguixin in Pará State (Vicente et al, 1993); D. jacuruxi Alho, 1965 which was first recorded in Dracaena guianensis Daudin, 1801 (Vicente et al, 1993); and D. galeatus, infecting T. teguixin (Vicente et al, 1993) and S. merianae (Ávila, 2009;Ramalho et al, 2009;Silva, 2010, 2011;.…”

“…In Madagascar, Spinicauda freitasi (Chabaud and Brygoo, 1960) and S. inglisi (Chabaud and Brygoo, 1960) occur together in the rectal tube of chameleons in that region (Petter, 1968). However, S. spinicauda is the only species found in South America, and infects A. ameiva in Rio de Janeiro and S. merianae in Ceará (Vicente et al, 1993), Mato Grosso and Fernando de Noronha in the state of Pernambuco (Ramalho et al, 2009) …”

“…in areas of the Caatinga, in the Brazilian semiarid (Brito et al, 2014a); Cruzia travassosi Khalil and Vogelsang, 1932 in areas of the Amazon Forest, Cerrado and Pantanal ; Diaphanocephalus galeatus (Rudolphi, 1819) in areas of coastal biomes in the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and the Amazon Forest, Cerrado and Pantanal (Ramalho et al, 2009;; Physaloptera tupinambae Pereira, Alves, Rocha, Souza Lima and Luque, 2012 and P. bainae Pereira, Alves, Rocha, Souza Lima and Luque, 2014 in the municipality of Juiz de Fora -MG in areas of the Atlantic Forest (Pereira et al, 2012(Pereira et al, , 2014; P. lutzi Cristofaro, Guimarães and Rodrigues, 1976 in areas of the Caatinga, in the Brazilian semiarid (Brito et al, 2014b); P. retusa Rudolphi, 1819 in the Amazon Forest, Cerrado and Pantanal ; Spinicauda spinicauda (Olfers, 1819) in coastal biomes, and the Amazon Forest, Cerrado and Pantanal (Ramalho et al, 2009;; and a species of Cestoda not identified, Oochoristica sp. in coastal biomes in the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Ramalho et al, 2009).…”

Light and scanning electron microscope studies on the nematode Aplectana macintoshii Travassos,1931(Ascaridida:Cosmocercidae) infecting the toad Bufo regularis in Egypt.

“…It was previously named as Aplecta that was found to be preoccupied and so Aplectana was established as the replacement name (Railliet& Henry,1916). Baker (1980) revised the genus and provided a key to 32 species; later in 1987, he assigned 39 species to this genus; four additional species have since been described (Bursey et al 2006;Ramallo et al, 2008 andRamalho et al, 2009).…”

“…Species of Aplectana are cosmopolitan in geographical distribution (Ragoo&Maharaj, 2003;Yildirimhan et al, 2005;Bursey & Goldberg, 2007;Holmes et al, 2008 andRamalho et al,2009) and their infection capability is not restricted to amphibians and reptiles since some of them are also capable of parasitizing salamanders and even fish (Rago & Maharaj, 2003;Saeed et al,2007 andGoldberg, 2007). However, studying scanning and ultrastructure of this nematode remains poor.…”