Pentastomid, Raillietiella mottae Almeida, Freire and Lopes, 2008, infecting lizards in an area of caatinga, northeast, Brazil

Brazilian Journal of Biology

GG. Santana¹  IC. Wanderley¹  WLS. Vieira¹  EMX. Freire²  A. Vasconcellos²  WO. Almeida³ 

[1] Universidade Federal da Paraíba;Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte;Universidade Regional do Cariri;

关键词: Raillietiella;    Pentastomida;    Tropiduridae;    Gekkonidae;    neotropical region;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1519-69842008000200028

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Pentastomids can infect the respiratory tract of lizards, causing their death and as a result influencing the population size of hosts. Despite this, studies on rates of pulmonary infection of Brazilian lizards, including those living in Caatinga ecosystems of northeastern Brazil are scarce. Active collections of lizards were performed from October to December 2004 in an area of Caatinga of the Estação Experimental de São João do Cariri - EESJC (07º 25' S and 36º 30' W), located in the state of Paraíba, Northeast of Brazil. Forty-five lizards inhabiting granite outcrops in an area of Caatinga were captured, belonging to the following species: Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (18 individuals), T. semitaeniatus (Spix, 1825) (15 individuals), Phyllopezus periosus Rodrigues, 1986 (6 individuals), and P. pollicaris (Spix, 1825) (6 individuals). Laboratory examination revealed that all species had some degree of pulmonary infection caused by Raillietiella mottae. The highest rates of prevalence (66.7%) and mean intensity of infection (5.25 ± 2.01, range of 2-11) were observed in P. periosus. The results obtained in this study show that lizards of the Brazilian semi-arid region are infected by a generalist species of pentastomid. The most likely cause for such pattern is the similarity in lizards' diets (ants and termites). It is particularly noteworthy that T. semitaeniatus, P. periosus, and P. pollicaris represent new host records for R. mottae.

【 授权许可】

Unknown