The alien and native pentastomids fauna of an exotic lizard population from Brazilian Northeast

Abstract

Pentastomids are common parasites of reptiles’ respiratory tract with more than 130 species described (de Oliveira Almeida and Christoffersen 1999; Rego 1983). The knowledge on the infection by the pentastomid Raillietiella in Brazil is scarce. Few works has been reported: Raillietiella freitasi in the lungs of Thrachylepis atlanticus (formerly Mabuya punctata; Motta 1963; Motta and Gomes 1968; Rego 1983, 1984); larvae of Raillietiella sp. in the skink Mabuya agilis (Vrcibradic et al. 2002) and a likely new species of Raillietiella aff. furcocerca infecting Cnemidophorus abaetensis and Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Dias et al. 2005). The house gecko Hemidactylus mabouia Moreau de Jonnes, 1818, is a broadly distributed species in the tropics and has invaded the New World after accidental introductions, becoming a successful colonizer, widely represented in southern North America, in Central and South America (Federico and Cacivio 2000). Along its range, H. mabouia has harboured an extensive parasitic fauna composed of protozoans, platyhelminthes, acanthocephalans, nematodes, pentastomids, and mites (Ali et al. 1985; Simonsen and Sarda 1985; Lainson and Paperna 1999; Martinez-Rivera et al. 2003; Anjos et al. 2005). We collected the specimens of H. mabouia from January to April 2006 in human buildings (houses) in the municipality of Barbalha (7°18′S; 39°18′W), Ceara state, in Northeastern Brazil. The climate of the region is predominantly mild hot semi-arid (mean annual temperature varying from 24°C to 26°C) and an annual rainfall of 1,153 mm. The vegetation in the area is composed of plant species common to Caatinga, Cerrado, wet forest, and transitional zones between these adjacent biomes (IPECE 2005). Lizards were collected by hand, promptly euthanized with ether and fixed with formalin 10% and posterior preserved in ethanol 70%. Lizard snout–vent length (SVL) was measured with a ruler (to the nearest 1 mm). Voucher specimens were housed in the Zoological Collection of the Universidade Regional do Cariri (LZ-URCA): 323–332, 334, 336, 338, 339, 341–355, 368–375. The lungs of the geckos were removed and carefully checked under a stereomicroscope to search for pentastomids. After that, the body cavity was checked and no pentastomid was found in the body cavity. The pentastomids were either preserved in ethanol 70% or mounted on slides and treated with a Hoyer medium. All the pentastomids found were adults because we noticed that the uterus of the females were full of eggs and that their single hooks had no chitinous accessories, which make Parasitol Res (2007) 101:627–628 DOI 10.1007/s00436-007-0526-7