Patterns of infestation by the trombiculid mite Eutrombicula alfreddugesi in four sympatric lizard species (genus Tropidurus) in northeastern Brazil
| Autor: | Vanderlaine Amaral Menezes, M. Cunha-Barros, Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha, Angélica F. Fontes, Davor Vrcibradic, M. Van Sluys |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: |
Sympatry
Trombiculidae Trombiculiasis Veterinary (miscellaneous) Acariformes medicine.disease_cause Tropidurus Host-Parasite Interactions Eutrombicula alfreddugesi lcsh:Infectious and parasitic diseases Species Specificity ectoparasitism Ectoparasitism Infestation parasitic diseases Prevalence medicine Mite Animals lcsh:RC109-216 biology integumentary system Ecology biology.organism_classification lizards Infectious Diseases Insect Science Animal Science and Zoology Parasitology Body region Brazil |
| Zdroj: | Parasite, Vol 15, Iss 2, Pp 131-136 (2008) Scopus-Elsevier ResearcherID |
| ISSN: | 1776-1042 |
| Popis: | We studied the parasitism by the chigger mite Eutrombicula alfreddugesi on four sympatric lizard species of the genus Tropidurus in Morro do Chapéu, Bahia state, Brazil: T. hispidus, T. cocorobensis, T. semitaeniatus and T. erythrocephalus. For each species, we investigated the patterns of infestation and analyzed to which extent they varied among the hosts. We calculated the spatial niche breadth of the chigger mite on the body of each host species and the distribution of mites along the hosts' bodies for each Tropidurus species. All four species of Tropidurus at Morro do Chapéu were parasited by the chigger mite, with high (97-100%) prevalences. Host body size significantly explained the intensity of mite infestation for all species, except T. erythrocephalus. The body regions with highest intensity of infestation in the four lizard species were the mite pockets. The spacial niche width of the chigger varied consistently among the four lizards species studied being highest for T. erytrocephalus and lowest for T. cocorobensis. We conclude that the distribution and intensity with which lizards of the genus Tropidurus are infested by Eutrombicula alfreddugesi larvae results from the interaction between aspects of host morphology (such as body size and the occurrence and distribution of mite pockets) and ecology (especially microhabitat use). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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