Intestinal helminth communities of Podarcis bocagei and Podarcis carbonelli (Sauria: Lacertidae) in NW Portugal

Abstract

A survey of gastrointestinal helminth communities of Podarcis bocagei and Podarcis carbonelli (Sauria: Lacertidae) from NW Portugal was conducted to determine the prevalence, intensity and diversity of intestinal parasites in these lizards. A few parasite species were found in both hosts, their prevalences, mean intensities and abundances of infection being low or very low. Low values of richness and abundance of parasite species were also found in the helminth infracommunities of individuals of both host species. These low values of parameters of infection and diversity are discussed and compared between both host species and among other Iberian lacertid lizards.

Are the helminth communities from unisexual and bisexual lizards different? Evidence from gastrointestinal parasites of Darevskia spp. in Turkey

“…Moreover, the infection and diversity values of the study parthenogenetic Darevskia spp. were poorer than those found in lizards which helminth communities have been considered as "extremely poor infracommunities" (GaldÓn et al 2006) as the saurians mentioned above.…”

“…analysed show the lowest diverse helminth communities reported to date within the Palaearctic lacertid lizards. Only Podarcis bocagei and P. carbonelli from North West of the Iberian Peninsula (GaldÓn et al 2006), and Zootoca vivipara from Pyrenees (north of Iberian Peninsula) (Sanchis et al 2000) harboured equivalent impoverished helminth communities (Table 2). Is this the typical pattern in unisexual lizards?…”

First helminthological data on Iberian vipers: Helminth communities and host-parasite relationships

“…Brillouin's index was lower only in the case of Podarcis carbonelli (Sauria, Lacertidae) from a peculiar area of northwest Portugal (Galdón et al 2006). This low diversity, which agrees with the general pattern found in snakes (Aho 1990), might be explained in the following terms: (1) Iberian vipers occupy drier habitats than other European vipers; hosts associated with aquatic habitats harbouring richer and more diverse communities than terrestrial reptile hosts (Aho 1990); this also agrees with results for Natrix maura (aquatic snake) from Spain, which shows more rich and diverse helminth communities than the terrestrial snakes here studied ; (2) few interactions with other reptile and amphibian species in the studied populations (see Sanchis et al 2000); (3) low feeding rate offering less opportunities for recruitment of parasites; (4) other general features of reptile hosts, such as ectothermy, simplicity of the alimentary canal, and low vagility, all of these exhibited by vipers (Kennedy et al 1986, Aho 1990, Roca and Hornero 1994, Martin and Roca 2004.…”

Helminth fauna of Lebanon Lizard,Phoenicolacerta laevis(Gray, 1838), (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Southern Turkey

“…(metacercariae) Species of Brachylaima are parasites that often exhibit a triheteroxenous terrestrial life cycle in which molluscs serve as fi rst and second intermediate hosts and amphibians and reptiles may harbor unencysted metaceraria, before reaching the defi nitive hosts, birds and mammals. Adults are parasites of the small intestine of birds and mammals (Yamaguti, 1958) metacercaria in Reptilia , Roca & Hornero, 1994Galdon et al, 2006;Roca et al, 2006). We found this species in only one infected host lizard (3 %) from Hatay province.…”