Helmintos de Salvator merianae (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) (Squamata: Teiidae) do sul do Brasil

Abstract

Sal vator meri anae i s a l i zard wi dely di stri buted i n Sou th Ameri ca, h owever data about parasi tes associ ated wi th the l i zard are scarce for th e south ern regi on of Brazi l . Th us, thi s stu dy ai med to i nvesti gate the hel mi nth f auna of S. meri anae from th e Sou thern region of Brazi l , an d to do morph ol ogi cal and mol ecu lar i denti fi cati on to hel minths fou nd. Forty-seven speci men s, coll ected from fou r mun ici pal iti es i n Ri o Grande do Sul, were exami ned. Hel mi n ths were i den tif i ed based on morphol ogy an d morph ometry, an d the genomi c DNA of th ree speci es was extracted for mol ecul ar characteri zation usi n g ribossomal DNA markes (18S, ITS1, 5.8S, ITS, 28S). Th e parasi tol ogi cal i ndi ces of preval en ce (P%), mean abu ndance of in fecti on (MA) and mean i n tensi ty of i nfection (MI) were esti mated for each speci es of hel mi nth found. Of the total l i zards exami ned, 93.6% were parasi ti zed by at l east one speci es of h el mi nth. A total of fou r Nematoda speci es were found: Di aphanocephal us gal eatus (Di aph anocephal idae), Cruzia brasil i ensi s (Kathl ani dae), Physal optera tupi nambae (Physalopteri dae) and Di octophyme renal e (th ird stage l arvae) (Di octoph ymati dae), on e Trematoda speci es: Brachyl ai ma sp. (immature form) (Brach yl ai mi dae) and one Acan thocephal a speci es: Centrorhynchus sp. (i mmature f orm) (Centroth ynchi dae). D. gal eatus was the most preval ent speci es (P=85.1%), fol l owed by P. tupinambae (P=53.2%) an d C. brasil i ensi s (P=46.8%) respecti vel y. It i s regi stered f or the fi rst ti me i n S. meri anae: C. brasil i ensi s, D. renal e (th ird stage l arvae) and i mmatu re f orms of Brachyl ai ma sp and Centrorhynchus sp. Al so for th e fi rst ti me, ri bosomal DNA sequences from D. gal eatus, C. brasi l i ensis an d P. tubi nambae from S. meri anae were obtai ned. Phyl ogeneti c trees were bui l t usi ng the Maxi mu m Li kel i hood and Bayesi an Inf erence methods, and based on mol ecul ar data, the speci es h ad their taxonomi c posi ti on i nferred i n thei r respective taxa. Wi th the real i zati on of thi s study, mol ecu l ar data are provi ded for the D. gal eatus, C. brasi li ensi s an d P. tubi nambae parasi tes of S. meri anae, compl ementi ng the exi sti ng on es and expandi ng th e knowl edge abou t th e hel minth fauna associ ated with the li zard.