First study on the helminth community structure of the neotropical marsupial Metachirus myosuros (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae).

Bruna Silva Cirino,Rosana Gentile,Sócrates Fraga Da Costa Neto,Arnaldo Maldonado Júnior

doi:10.1590/s1984-29612020064

Bruna Silva Cirino, Rosana Gentile + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/s1984-29612020064

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Abstract

Metachirus myosuros is a marsupial species widely distributed in South America. Despite this, there is a lack of knowledge about its helminth parasites and helminth community structure. The aims of this study were to describe the species composition and determine the parasitological parameters of helminth communities of M. myosuros in preserved areas of the Atlantic Forest, Igrapiúna, Bahia state, northeastern Brazil. Parasites were searched from 19 specimens of this marsupial (18 were infected with at least one species), counted and identified. Ten species of helminth parasites were obtained: 7 nematodes, 2 platyhelminths and 1 acanthocephalan. The most abundant species were Aspidodera raillieti, Cruzia tentaculata, Physaloptera mirandai and Viannaia conspicua (Nematoda). These species were also the only dominant ones in the component community. Male hosts had higher prevalence of P. mirandai and greater abundance of V. conspicua. We observed a relationship between host body size and helminth abundance in both male and female hosts, and between host body size and helminth species richness in female hosts. This was the first study to analyze the helminth fauna and helminth community structure of M. myosuros. This was the first report of occurrences of A. raillieti and Didelphonema longispiculata in M. myosuros.

Highlights

Parasitism plays a key role in the ecosystems because parasites can interfere in processes such as competition, migration, speciation and host reproduction, and can affect biodiversity (Combes, 2001; Hudson, 2005)
We investigated the influence of host age, based on host body size, on the total abundance and species richness for each infracommunity, using linear regression separately for each host gender
Metachirus myosuros is recorded as a new host for the nematodes A. raillieti and D. longispiculata

Summary

Introduction

Parasitism plays a key role in the ecosystems because parasites can interfere in processes such as competition, migration, speciation and host reproduction, and can affect biodiversity (Combes, 2001; Hudson, 2005). Biotic factors (such as the host gender, age, home range and species richness) and abiotic factors (such as seasonality) may alter the spatial and temporal distribution of a parasite species, influencing their abundance and prevalence rates (Combes, 2001). In Brazil, 62 species of marsupials have been registered (Faria et al, 2019), but their helminth parasites are scarcely known. The brown four-eyed opossum Metachirus myosuros (Temminck, 1824) (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) is a strictly terrestrial marsupial species (Cunha & Vieira, 2002; Crouzeilles et al, 2010). This species has wide distribution in South America, extending from Honduras, in Central America, to northeastern Argentina (Brown, 2004). In Brazil, M. myosuros occurs in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Pantanal and Cerrado biomes (Melo & Sponchiado, 2012)

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