Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:38:32.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Co-occurrence of Eutrombicula alfreddugesi and Oswaldofilaria chabaudi in Tropidurus torquatus and first report of microfilariae in the chigger mite: possible evidence of a lifecycle pathway?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2021

P.V. Alves ,
S.C. Gomides  and
F.B. Pereira Open the ORCID record for F.B. Pereira [Opens in a new window]
P.V. Alves
Affiliation:
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, Pampulha CEP 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
S.C. Gomides
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará, Campus Oriximiná, Rodovia PA-254, 257, Santíssimo, CEP 68270-000, Oriximiná, PA, Brazil
F.B. Pereira*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, Pampulha CEP 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: F.B. Pereira, E-mail: felipebisaggiop@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While much attention has been paid to vector-borne filariasis, diseases that threaten millions of people in tropical and subtropical countries, the literature on host–parasite associations and transmission strategies of filarial nematodes in wildlife is scarce. Here, we report the co-occurrence of chigger mites (Eutrombicula alfreddugesi) and onchocercid nematodes (Oswaldofilaria chabaudi) parasitizing the lizard Tropidurus torquatus in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Examination of chiggers established, for the first time, the occurrence of microfilariae in trombiculid mites (Trombiculidae). These larvae were morphologically similar to those recovered from adult females of O. chabaudi. The current evidence suggests that chiggers do not play a role in the transmission of filarioid nematodes, but rather act as accidental or dead-end hosts. Nevertheless, considering the polyphagous nature of trombiculid mites, similar to blood-sucking insects involved in the transmission of several infectious diseases, further studies may shed light on the potential role of chiggers as vectors of filarioids.

Keywords

Nematodaendoparasitefilarioidhost–parasite associationbiologyectoparasitelizardNeotropical region
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 95 , 2021 , e25
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, RC (2000) Nematode parasites of vertebrates: their development and transmission. 2nd edn. 650 pp. Wallingford, CABI Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, RC, Chabaud, AG and Willmott, S (2009) Keys to the nematode parasites of vertebrates: archival volume. 463 pp. Wallingford, CABI Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bain, O and Chabaud, AG (1975) Développement chez des moustiques de trois filaires de lézards sud-Américains du genre Oswaldofilaria. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 50, 209–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, M and Koutsovoulos, G (2015) The evolution of parasitism in Nematoda. Parasitology 142, S26–S39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brennan, JM and Goff, ML (1977) Keys to the genera of chiggers of the Western Hemisphere (Acarina: Trombiculidae). Journal of Parasitology 63, 554–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bursey, CR, Goldberg, SR and Grismer, LL (2015) New species of Oswaldofilaria (Nematoda; FIlarioidea; Onchocercidae) and other helminths in Acanthosaura cardamomensis (Sauria; Agamidae) from Indochina Peninsula. Acta Parasitologica 60, 112–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, ALG, Araújo, AFB and Silva, HR (2006) Patterns of parasitism by Eutrombicula alfreddugesi (Oudemans) (Acari, Trombiculidae) in three species of Tropidurus Wied (Squamata, Tropiduridae) from Cerrado habitat of Central Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 23, 1010–1015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, J, Hotez, P, Junghanss, T, Kang, G, Lalloo, D and White, NJ (2013) Manson's tropical diseases. 23rd edn. 1360 pp. London, Saunders.Google Scholar
Frost, DR, Rodrigues, MT, Grant, T and Titus, TA (2001) Phylogenetics of the lizard genus Tropidurus (Squamata: Tropiduridae: Tropidurinae): direct optimization, descriptive efficiency, and sensitivity analysis of congruence between molecular data and morphology. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 21, 352–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernandes-Córdoba, OD and Braga, EM (2019) Plasmodium tropiduri tropiduri in co-occurrence with chigger mites and microfilaria in the ground lizard Tropidurus torquatus. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 14, 402–410.Google Scholar
Jacinavicius, FC, Bassini-Silva, R, Mendoza-Roldan, JA, Pepato, AR, Ochoa, R, Welbourn, C and Barros-Battesti, DM (2018) A checklist of chiggers from Brazil, including new records (Acari: Trombidiformes: Trombiculidae and Leeuwenhoekiidae). Zookeys 743, 1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makerras, MJ (1953) Lizard filarial: transmission by mosquitoes of Oswaldofilaria chlamydossauri (Breinl) (Nematoda: Filarioidea). Parasitology 43, 1–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morand, S, Nadler, S, Skorping, A, Krasnov, BR and Littlewood, DTJ (2015) Nematode life-traits diversity in the light of their phylogenetic diversification. pp. 289–303 in Morand, S (Ed) Parasite diversity and diversification: evolutionary ecology meets phylogenetics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereira, FB, Souza Lima, S and Bain, O (2010) Oswaldofilaria chabaudi n. sp. (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) from a South American tropidurid lizard (Squamata: Iguania) with an update on Oswaldofilariinae. Parasite 17, 307–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pereira, FB, Sousa, BM and Souza Lima, S (2012) Helminth community structure of Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in a rocky outcrop area of Minas Gerais States, Southeastern Brazil. Journal of Parasitology 98, 6–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prod'hon, J and Bain, O (1972) Développement larvaire chez Anopheles stephensi d’Oswaldofilaria bacillaris. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 47, 745–758.Google Scholar
Rocha, CFD, Cunha-Barros, M, Menezes, VA, Fontes, AF, Vrcibradic, D and Van Sluys, M (2008) Patterns of infestation by the trombiculid mite Eutrombicula alfreddugesi in four sympatric lizard species (genus Tropidurus) in Northeastern Brazil. Parasite 15, 131–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocha, CFD, Cunha-Barros, M, Menezes, VA, Vrcibradic, D, Kiefer, MC, Fontes, AF, Van Sluys, M, Galdino, CAB and Maia-Carneiro, T (2020) High prevalence and intensity of infestation of Eutrombicula alfreddugesi (Acarina: Trombiculidae) on Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata, Tropiduridae): effects of body size and on body condition across ten populations along the Brazilian coast. Biologia 75, 2231–2237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shatrov, AB and Kudryashova, NI (2006) Taxonomy, life cycles and the origin of parasitism in trombiculid mites. pp. 119–140 in Morand, S, Krasnov, BR and Poulin, R (Eds) Micromammals and macroparasites. Tokyo, Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, MA, Coop, RL and Wall, RL (2016) Veterinary parasitology. 4th edn. 1006 pp. Oxford, Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Weitzel, T, Makepeace, BL, Elliott, I, Chaisiri, K, Richards, AL and Newton, PN (2020) Marginalized mites: neglected vectors of neglected diseases. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14, e0008297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wharton, GW and Fuller, HS (1952) A manual of the chiggers. 185 pp. Washington, Entomological Society of Washington.Google Scholar
Zar, JH (2014) Biostatistical analysis. 5th edn. 756 pp. Essex, Pearson Education Limited.Google Scholar