MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF NEMATODES OF THE OPOSSUM Didelphis albiventris AND THE ARMADILLO Dasypus novemcinctus FROM SERRA DA CAPIVARA NATIONAL PARK

Abstract

Serra da Capivara National Park (SCNP) in Northeast Brazil has the largest concentration of prehistoric sites in the Americas where studies of coprolites of ancestral parasitic fauna reported the presence of morphotypes of nematode eggs identified as Aspidoderidae and Trichostrongyloidea from dasypodid hosts. Among the current mammals inhabiting the park, the opossum Didelphis albiventris and the armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus were found roadkill in the nearby area. The aim of this work was to perform an integrative taxonomic analysis of adult nematode parasites of D. albiventris (N = 3) and D. novemcinctus (N = 2) found roadkill in the SCNP using morphological, ultrastructural and genetic approaches. The nematodes studied included Aspidodera raillieti and Aspidodera subulata (Aspidoderidae) collected from D. albiventris , and Aspidodera binansata, Aspidodera vazi (Aspidoderidae) and Hadrostrongylus speciosum (Trichostrongylidae) from D. novemcinctus . A new geographic locality of four species of Aspidoderidae and one Trichostrongylidae species are reported with new ultrastructural data using scanning electron microscopy of A. binansata and A. vazi . New genetic data of aspidoderids include sequences of partial 18S rRNA (SSU) and partial 28S rRNA (LSU) genes of A. raillieti , the first sequence of 16S rRNA of A. vazi and additional sequences of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c-oxidase subunit 1, internal transcribed spacer 1, 2 and 5.8S rRNA gene of A. raillieti . These are the first partial sequences of 18S rRNA (SSU) and 28S rRNA (LSU) genes of species of the family Aspidoderidae, linked to a vouchered specimen.