<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Studies that seek to understand which factors influence the patterns of infection in the lizard <italic>Coleodactylus meridionalis</italic> are non-existent. In this way, we recorded the infection rates for these lizards from three different sized fragments of the Atlantic rainforest and investigated if there is influence of the size, mass and sex of the host regarding the endoparasite abundance. In addition, we investigated if there were possible associations between the host’s diet and parasitism, by calculating the diet niche breadth (based on the prey number of pooled stomachs) for each host population and comparing the diet between fragments and sexes (from the three sampled fragments). We collected 38 lizards across the three sampled forest fragments. We only found parasites in the lizards sampled from the smallest of the three forest fragments which included: <italic>Physaloptera lutzi</italic>, <italic>Haplometroides odhneri</italic> and <italic>Oligacanthorhynchus</italic> sp. For this population, lizards with greater length and body mass have a greater endoparasite abundance. In addition, based on the results obtained in our study, the diet of the lizards varies in food composition between sampled populations. Finally, knowing that among the infected lizards there is no sexual dimorphism in relation to size and body mass and that the stomach sampling for this population is insufficient to calculate the indexes related to the food niche; we used the number of prey lizards from all populations, thus we were able to associate the fact that female lizards have a greater endoparasite abundance due to variations in food composition between sexes.</p></abstract>

Studies that seek to understand which factors influence the patterns of infection in the lizard Coleodactylus meridionalis are non-existent. In this way, we recorded the infection rates for these lizards from three different sized fragments of the Atlantic rainforest and investigated if there is influence of the size, mass and sex of the host regarding the endoparasite abundance. In addition, we investigated if there were possible associations between the host’s diet and parasitism, by calculating the diet niche breadth (based on the prey number of pooled stomachs) for each host population and comparing the diet between fragments and sexes (from the three sampled fragments). We collected 38 lizards across the three sampled forest fragments. We only found parasites in the lizards sampled from the smallest of the three forest fragments which included: Physaloptera lutzi, Haplometroides odhneri and Oligacanthorhynchus sp. For this population, lizards with greater length and body mass have a greater endoparasite abundance. In addition, based on the results obtained in our study, the diet of the lizards varies in food composition between sampled populations. Finally, knowing that among the infected lizards there is no sexual dimorphism in relation to size and body mass and that the stomach sampling for this population is insufficient to calculate the indexes related to the food niche; we used the number of prey lizards from all populations, thus we were able to associate the fact that female lizards have a greater endoparasite abundance due to variations in food composition between sexes.

Parasitic infection patterns in <italic>Coleodactylus meridionalis</italic> (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from Atlantic Forest fragments, northeast of the Neotropical Region

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Parasitic infection patterns in  (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from Atlantic Forest fragments, northeast of the Neotropical Region

Studies that seek to understand which factors influence the patterns of infection in the lizard Coleodactylus meridionalis are non-existent. In this way, we...

Diet	BMBG	PRNHEG	AREIMG	Males	Females
Araneae	-	5/36.44	1/7.38	5/23.96	1/8.43
Diptera	-	1/8.28	1/2.99	2/5.56	-
Formicidae	48/44.1	-	-	48/20.95	-
Homoptera	2/7.94	-	-	2/2.32	-
Hymenoptera	-	1/12.13	-	-	1/12.89
Insect larva	1/35.15	-	3/11.71	4/16.01	-
Insect egg	-	-	6/7.79	6/4.38	-
Isopoda	-	3.35.71	5/34.09	2/5.17	6/69.96
Isoptera	-	-	14/20.45	11/8.99	-
Orthoptera	1/12.78	-	2/5.87	3/6.82	-
Psocoptera	-	-	7/9.68	7/5.78	-
Scorpiones	-	1/7.42	-	-	1/8.67

Niche N° A	1.73	3.27	4.73	3.14	2.07

	PRNHEG		BMBG		AREIMG
	SVL	Mass	SVL	Mass	SVL	Mass
Male	22.21 ± 1.23	0.25 ± 0.06	21.59 ± 1.65 0.18	± 0.06	25.02 ± 2.2	0.26 ± 0.06
Female	24.21 ± 1.02	0.29 ± 0.07	-	-	25.06 ± 2.13	0.28 ± 0.06
Juvenile	-	-	-	-	20.85 and 20.8	0.2 and 0.15

Parasitic infection patterns in Coleodactylus meridionalis (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from Atlantic Forest fragments, northeast of the Neotropical Region

Publicado en línea: 25 dic 2021

Páginas: 356 - 363

Recibido: 21 feb 2019

Aceptado: 14 oct 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/helm-2021-0042

Palabras clave
Helminths, Gecko, Diet, Neotropical Region, Brazil

© 2021 A. A. M. Teixeira, N. K. S. Sampaio, J. A. Araujo-Filho, D. A. Teles, W. O. Almeida, D. O. Mesquita, S. V. Brito, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Diet composition, prey number and IVI (importance value index) from three populations of Coleodactylus meridionalis including sex.Niche breadth based on the prey number of pooled stomachs “Niche N° A” for each site at the bottom of the table.

Basic morphometric data of C. meridionalis from three sampled areas.

Parasitic infection patterns in Coleodactylus meridionalis (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) from Atlantic Forest fragments, northeast of the Neotropical Region

Publicado en línea: 25 dic 2021

Páginas: 356 - 363

Recibido: 21 feb 2019

Aceptado: 14 oct 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/helm-2021-0042

Palabras claveHelminths, Gecko, Diet, Neotropical Region, Brazil

© 2021 A. A. M. Teixeira, N. K. S. Sampaio, J. A. Araujo-Filho, D. A. Teles, W. O. Almeida, D. O. Mesquita, S. V. Brito, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Diet composition, prey number and IVI (importance value index) from three populations of Coleodactylus meridionalis including sex.Niche breadth based on the prey number of pooled stomachs “Niche N° A” for each site at the bottom of the table.

Basic morphometric data of C. meridionalis from three sampled areas.

Palabras clave
Helminths, Gecko, Diet, Neotropical Region, Brazil