Abstract
This study investigated the parasite communities of wild Acestrorhynchus falcatus and Acestrorhynchus falcirostris populations living in sympatry in Brazilian Amazon. In these two hosts, a total of 12 parasite species e 1-9 parasite species were found per fish, and 10 of these species are metazoans. Eight species of parasites were common to both host species and four of them exhibited differences in abundance and/or prevalence. Parasite communities of the hosts were taxonomically similar (83%) and composed of both ectoparasites and endoparasites, and characterized by high prevalence and high abundance of endoparasites and an aggregated dispersion pattern. For A. falcirostris, the dominant parasite was Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, and for A. falcatus, it was Piscinoodinium pillulare. Shannon diversity and Berger-Parker dominance were similar for both hosts, while the parasites species richness and evenness showed differences influenced by the ectoparasites species. These two populations of hosts that inhabited the same geographical area had different sizes, but were exposed to the same infective stages, and acquired qualitatively and quantitatively similar endoparasites community, thus indicating that the amounts and types of prey congeneric that they were eating were similar. Therefore, the overlap in the same occurrence area play an important role in the parasite communities to these phylogenetically related hosts.
Highlights
Acestrorhynchus Eigenmann and Kennedy 1903, is the single genus of family Acestrorhynchidae Eigenmann 1912, which is formed by 15 valid species of Neotropical fish that are endemic to South America (TOLEDO-PIZA, 2007; PRETTI et al, 2009; FROESE & PAULY, 2016)
The results showed that species richness of parasites, Shannon index and evenness were the main factors relating to A. falcatus, while the Kn and Berger-Parker dominance index were the factors most strongly relating to A. falcirostris (Figure 3)
Hosts that live in the same environment and are phylogenetically related, with similar ecology, can be expected to have a certain degree of homogeneity in their parasite assemblages (MUÑOZ et al, 2006; ALARCOS & TIMI, 2012; PANTOJA et al, 2016)
Summary
Acestrorhynchus Eigenmann and Kennedy 1903, is the single genus of family Acestrorhynchidae Eigenmann 1912, which is formed by 15 valid species of Neotropical fish that are endemic to South America (TOLEDO-PIZA, 2007; PRETTI et al, 2009; FROESE & PAULY, 2016). The species of Acestrorhynchidae are of interest because they belong to a monophyletic taxon and presented a high degree of endemism to Amazon, Orinoco, São Francisco, Paraná, Paraguay basins and La Plata drainages (SILVA & GOITEIN, 2009; TOLEDO-PIZA, 2007; PRETTI et al, 2009; FROESE & PAULY, 2016). In both species, the females start their first sexual maturity when they reach a standard length of 14 cm They spawn in batches, and reproduction occurs with greater intensity at the end of the dry period (December) and at the beginning of the flood period (May) in the Amazon region (SOARES et al, 2011). The acestrorhynchids are not commercially important as food fish, but might be eventually found in aquarium shops
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