Development and experimental transmission of Schellackia golvani and Schellackia occidentalis by ingestion of infected blood-feeding arthropods

Abstract

Klein T. A., Young D. G., Greiner E. G., Telford S. R., Jr and Butler J.F. 1988. Development and experimental transmission of Schellackia golvani and Schellackia occidentalis by ingestion of infected blood-feeding arthropods. International Journal for Parasitology 18: 259–267. Experimental transmission of Schellackia parasites was accomplished by ingestion of mosquitoes, phlebotomine sand flies, and mites that had fed previously on their respective, infected, natural hosts, i.e. Schellackia golvani transmission to Anolis carolinensis and Schellackia occidentalis to Sceloporus undulatus. Attempts to transmit S. golvani to Sc. undulatus and S. occidentalis to A. carolinensis were unsuccessful, thus demonstrating their specific differentiation. The prepatent period was reduced significantly when temperatures were elevated for both Schellackia species, i.e. >20 days at 18–24°C decreased to 7–12 days at 32°C. Sporozoites of S. golvani ingested by sand flies and mosquitoes during blood-feeding invaded the intestinal epithelial cells where they remained quiescent in a parasitophorus vacuole. Sand flies ( Lutzomyia vexator) were infective for up to 7 days after the blood meal on lizards infected with either S. golvani or S. occidentalis. Mosquitoes ( Culex erraticus) were infective for up to 29 days after a blood meal on A. carolinensis infected with S. golvani. Histological preparations of A. carolinensis infected with S. golvani and Sc. undulatus infected with S. occidentalis revealed schizogony occurring in the intestinal epithelial cells; gametogony and sporogony occurred in the lamina propria of the the small intestine. The evidence presented strengthens the supposition that haematophagous dipterans rather than geckobiid mites, as earlier reported, are more important natural vectors of Schellackia species.