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Absence of haemoparasite infection in the fossorial amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

JOSÉ MARTÍN ,
MARIO GARRIDO ,
JESÚS ORTEGA ,
ROBERTO GARCÍA-ROA ,
ALEJANDRO IBÁÑEZ  and
ALFONSO MARZAL
JOSÉ MARTÍN*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
MARIO GARRIDO
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
JESÚS ORTEGA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
ROBERTO GARCÍA-ROA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
ALEJANDRO IBÁÑEZ
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain Department of Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
ALFONSO MARZAL
Affiliation:
Departamento de Anatomía, Biología Celular y Zoología, Universidad de Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain
*
*Corresponding author: Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: Jose.Martin@mncn.csic.es
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Summary

Blood parasites such as haemogregarines and haemosporidians have been identified in almost all groups of vertebrates. However, very little is known about biodiversity of these parasites and their effects on some major groups of reptiles such as amphisbaenians, a distinctive group with many morphological and ecological adaptations to fossorial life. Conditions of the fossorial environment might also affect host–parasite relationships. We investigated the presence and the potential prevalence of three genera of haemoparasitic aplicomplexan blood parasites (Hepatozoon, Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in the amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni, a fossorial worm lizard species from North West Africa. Blood parasite infection was not detected in T. wiegmanni, both in visual surveys of blood smears and using molecular methods to detect DNA of such parasites in the blood of the potential amphisbaenian hosts. We discuss how conditions of the fossorial environment might affect blood parasitaemias in amphisbaenians as well as in other fossorial reptiles.

Keywords

amphisbaeniansfossorial environmenthaemoparasitesreptiles
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 143 , Issue 11 , September 2016 , pp. 1433 - 1436
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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