First record of Neoxysomatium brevicaudatum through the non-invasive sampling of Anguis fragilis: complementary morphological and molecular detection

Relatively few studies have examined the parasite fauna of British reptiles, partly due to the cryptic nature and low population density of these hosts. Here we examined 12 populations of the slow worm Anguis fragilis which, unlike other UK lizards, occurs at locally high population densities. Morph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of helminthology 2012-03, Vol.86 (1), p.125-129
Main Authors: Jones, R., Brown, D.S., Harris, E., Jones, J., Symondson, W.O.C., Bruford, M.W., Cable, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Feces - parasitology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Host parasite relation
pathogenicity
Invertebrates
Lizards - parasitology
Male
Molecular Sequence Data
Nemathelminthia. Plathelmintha
Nematoda - anatomy & histology
Nematoda - classification
Nematoda - genetics
Nematoda - isolation & purification
Phylogeny
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Summary:Relatively few studies have examined the parasite fauna of British reptiles, partly due to the cryptic nature and low population density of these hosts. Here we examined 12 populations of the slow worm Anguis fragilis which, unlike other UK lizards, occurs at locally high population densities. Morphological examination of non-invasively collected faecal samples revealed the presence of Neoxysomatium brevicaudatum and a second unidentified nematode species. Although previously unrecorded from slow worms in the UK, N. brevicaudatum was present in 38% of animals (mean intensity 70.9, range 1–686). Morphological identification was confirmed by sequencing the 18S ribosomal gene. The use of the species-specific, cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial gene primers proved an efficient alternative to conventional, microscope screening for parasites, although the original identification of N. brevicaudatum was dependent upon morphological characters. Sequencing also identified the second, smaller nematode as belonging to the Rhabdiasidae family: this species was even more common at a prevalence of 83% (mean intensity 102.8, range 1–2000). While increasing our knowledge of the UK macroparasite fauna, this work demonstrates the benefits of a combined morphological–molecular approach.
ISSN:0022-149X
1475-2697
DOI:10.1017/S0022149X11000174