Infection patterns of helminths in Norops brasiliensis (Squamata, Dactyloidae) from a humid forest, Northeastern Brazil and their relation with body mass, sex, host size, and season

• Published in: Helminthologia 2019-06, Vol.56 (2), p.168-174
• Main Authors: Amorim, D. M., Ávila, R. W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Biological effects; Biology; Body mass; Body size; Cestoda; Ecological effects; Endoparasites; Environmental factors; Fauna; Hosts; Lizards; Mass; Nematoda; Nematodes; New records; Norops; Parasite abundance; Parasites; Rain; Rainfall; Seasons; Sex; South America; Species; Trematoda
• ISSN: 0440-6605; 1336-9083
• DOI: 10.2478/helm-2019-0011

Climatic and ecological factors can influence the parasite load of a host. Variation in rainfall, body size, and sex of the hosts may be related to the abundance of parasites. This study investigated the helminth fauna associated with a population of , together with the effect of host biology (sex, body size, and mass) and variation in rainfall regime on the abundance of helminths. Species of three groups of endoparasites were found (Nematoda, Cestoda, and Trematoda), with nematodes as the most representative taxa with eight species, prevalence of 63.2 %, mean intensity of 4.0 ± 0.58 (1 – 25), and mean abundance of 2.66 ± 0.44 (0 – 25). Nine helminth species are new host records for . . The nematode sp. had the highest prevalence (53.3 %). There was no significant relationship between abundance of the trematode and host sex or season, although the abundance of this parasite increased significantly with host body size and mass, while abundance of nematodes was related to season and host mass. This study increases the knowledge about the diversity of helminth fauna associated with , revealing infection levels of hosts from northeastern Brazil.