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NEW SPECIES OF RHABDIAS (NEMATODA: RHABDIASIDAE) AND OTHERHELMINTHS FROM NOROPS CAPITO (SAURIA: POLYCHROTIDAE) FROMNICARAGUAAuthor(s): Charles R. Bursey, Stephen R. Goldberg, Laurie J. VittSource: Journal of Parasitology, 93(1):129-131. 2007.Published By: American Society of ParasitologistsDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1645/GE-887R.1URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1645/GE-887R.1

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129

J. Parasitol., 93(1), 2007, pp. 129–131� American Society of Parasitologists 2007

NEW SPECIES OF RHABDIAS (NEMATODA: RHABDIASIDAE) AND OTHER HELMINTHSFROM NOROPS CAPITO (SAURIA: POLYCHROTIDAE) FROM NICARAGUA

Charles R. Bursey, Stephen R. Goldberg*, and Laurie J. Vitt†Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146. e-mail: cxb13@psu.edu

ABSTRACT: Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae) from the lungs of Norops capito (Sauria: Polychrotidae) isdescribed and illustrated. Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. represents the 54th species assigned to the genus and the 12th from theNeotropical realm. Of the 12 Neotropical Rhabdias species, nicaraguensis is most similar to tobagoensis and vellardi. These 3species have equatorial placement of the vulva, inflated cuticle, and 6 small circumoral lips. Rhabdias nicaraguensis is easilyseparated from R. tobagoensis by the shape of the buccal cavity and from R. vellardi by body size and shape of the tail. Rhabdiasnicaraguensis differs from both species by host preference, the amount of inflated cuticle covering the body, and the phasmidssituated posterior to the midpoint of the tail.

The bighead anole, Norops capito (Peters, 1863) (Polychro-tidae), is a large, long-legged anole found in humid lowlandsand premontane slopes on the Atlantic versant from Tabasco,Mexico, to eastern Panama and on the Pacific slope from north-western Costa Rica through Panama (Savage, 2002). The ecol-ogy of N. capito has been studied (see Savage, 2002); to ourknowledge, there are no helminthological reports. The purposeof this paper is to describe a new species of nematode harboredby N. capito and to provide an initial helminth list for this host.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty N. capito collected between 15 March and 15 April 1993, RıoSan Juan Province, Nicaragua, were borrowed from the Sam NobleOklahoma Museum of Natural History (OMNH), Norman, Oklahoma(15 females, 15 males, mean snout–vent length 51 � 20 mm, range 27–88 mm; OMNH 35891–35920) and examined for helminths. Stomachswere previously removed during an ecological investigation (Vitt andZani, 2005) and were not available for examination. After removal oftheir stomachs, the lizards were fixed in 10% formalin, then stored in70% ethanol. The incision on the abdomen allowing the removal of thestomach was extended to the cloaca and the small and large intestineswere removed, opened longitudinally, and searched for helminths witha dissecting microscope. The coelom and lungs were also searched.Each helminth, fixed in situ, was cleared in glycerol on a glass slideand identified from these preparations with a light microscope. Illustra-tions were made with the aid of a microprojector. Measurements aregiven in micrometers unless otherwise indicated as mean � 1 SD withrange in parentheses. Type and paratype specimens were deposited inthe U.S. National Parasite Collection (USNPC), Beltsville, Maryland(USNPC 97457, 97458, respectively).

RESULTS

Two species of Nematoda, Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensisBursey, Goldberg, and Vitt, 2005, a new species of Rhabdias,and 1 species of Acanthocephala, Acanthocephalus sauriusBursey and Goldberg, 2003, were found. Seventeen N. capito(57%) were infected: 12 harbored a single helminth species, 4harbored 2 species, and 1 had 3 species. Prevalence, mean in-tensity, and range by helminth species are given in Table I.Description of the new species follows.

Received 7 March 2006; revised 6 July 2006; accepted 30 August2006.

* Department of Biology, Whittier College, Whittier, California 90608.† Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Zoology De-

partment, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73072.

DESCRIPTION

Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp.(Figs. 1–5)

Diagnosis: Measurements based on 10 gravid individuals. Bodylength of parthenogenetic female 6.9 � 0.2 mm (range 6.6–7.2 mm),width at vulva 346 � 44 (281–421). Anterior end rounded, posteriorend tapered. Outer layers of cuticle inflated, irregular folds and ridgesthroughout, from lip to tip of tail; inner layer of cuticle with indistinctlongitudinal striations occurring 2–3 apart. Oral opening round, sur-rounded by 6 weakly developed lips of equal size and shape. Lip adorn-ment absent, amphid present at outer limits of each lateral lip. Buccalcavity spherical, 12 � 1 (11–15) in diameter, 12 � 1 (11–15) in depth.Clavicular esophagus 573 � 24 (536–612) in length (8% of bodylength), maximum width 99 � 7 (89–107) at posterior end. A nondilatedmuscular area in the esophagus occurs just anterior to nerve ring. Nervering and excretory pore 148 � 9 (134–159) and 500 � 34 (459–561),respectively, from anterior end. Excretory duct short, excretory glandsindistinct. Width of intestine at esophagointestinal junction 74 � 6 (64–82) but widening posteriorly. Intestine filled with brown or black con-tents. Muscular sphincter between intestine, rectum. Rectum with scler-otized walls. Posterior lip of anus swollen; anus 288 � 36 (255–357)from posterior end of body (tail 4% of body length). Vulva more orless equatorial 3.6 � 0.2 mm (3.2–4.0 mm) from anterior end of bodyor 49% (48–54%) of body length, distinct nonsalient lips. Reproductivesystem ampidelphic. Ovaries begin in region of vulva; both ovaries andoviducts straight, lie along intestine. Uteri thin walled, filled with nu-merous eggs; egg shell thin, smooth, clear; larvated eggs near vagina99 � 3 (95–104) long, 54 � 3 (52–61) wide; hatched first stage larvaenot found in uterus. Tail conical, narrowing to sharp point; phasmidssituated posterior to midpoint of tail.

Taxonomic summary

Type host: Bighead anole, Norops capito; symbiotype, OMNH35912; collected 4 April 1993.

Type locality: By Isla Diamante on Rıo San Juan, Rıo San JuanProvince, (11�3�N, 85�40�W) Nicaragua.

Site of infection: Lungs.Type specimens: Holotype USNPC 97457; paratypes USNPC 97458.Etymology: The new species is named in reference to the country of

collection.

Remarks

A list of 46 species of Rhabdias was published by Bursey et al.(2003); 7 additional species have been described since then (Kuzmin,2003; Kuzmin et al., 2003, 2005; Lhermitte-Vallarino and Bain, 2004;Sarkar and Manna, 2004; Bursey and Goldberg, 2005; Martınez-Salazarand Leon-Regagnon, 2006). Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. representsthe 54th species assigned to the genus and the 12th from the Neotropicalrealm. Of the 12 Neotropical species, 3 have been described from rep-tilian hosts (i.e., Rhabdias anolis Bursey, Goldberg, and Telford, 2003,from the lizard Anolis frenatus; Rhabdias lamothei Martınez-Salazarand Leon-Regagnon, 2006, from an endemic Mexican snake, Leptodei-ra maculata; and Rhabdias vellardi Pereira, 1928, from the snakes Ag-kistrodon bilineatus, Oxyrhopus tigeminus, and Philodryas schottii) (Pe-

130 THE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY, VOL. 93, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2007

TABLE I. Site of infection, number of helminths, prevalence, mean intensity, range of infection, and U.S. National Parasite Collection (USNPC)accession numbers for 3 helminth species from Norops capito from Nicaragua.

Helminthspecies

Site ofinfection Number Prevalence

Mean intensity� SD Range

USNPC collectionnumber

Nematoda

Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis Small intestine 64 8/30 (27%) 8.0 � 6.5 2–22 97459Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. Lung 15 5/30 (17%) 3.0 � 2.8 1–7 97457, 97458

Acanthocephala

Acanthocephalus saurius Small intestine 21 10/30 (33%) 2.1 � 2.2 1–8 97460, 97461

FIGURES 1–5. Rhabdias nicaraguensis n. sp. (1) Parthenogenetic female, anterior end, lateral view. (2) Female, posterior end, lateral view. (3)Female, en face view. (4) Female, anterior end. (5) Female, vulvar region.

reira, 1928; Bursey et al., 2003; Martınez-Salazar and Leon-Regagnon,2006). The other 9 species are from anuran hosts. Rhabdias nicara-guensis, Rhabdias tobagoensis Moravec and Kaiser, 1995, and R. vel-lardi differ from other Neotropical species in that these 3 have an equa-torial placement of the vulva, an inflated cuticle, and 6 small circumorallips. Rhabdias nicaraguensis is easily separated from R. tobagoensis by

the shape and size of its buccal cavity (that of R. nicaraguensis roundin longitudinal section; that of R. tobagoensis twice as wide as long),the phasmids situated posterior to the midpoint of the tail, and hostpreference (lizards by R. nicaraguensis; frogs by R. tobagoensis). Rhab-dias nicaraguensis differs from R. vellardi in body size (6.6–7.2 mmin R. nicaraguensis, 3.0–3.3 mm in R. vellardi) and shape of the tail

BURSEY ET AL.—NEW SPECIES OF RHABDIAS 131

(narrowing to a sharp point covered by inflated cuticle in R. nicara-guensis; thin tail tip not covered by inflated cuticle in R. vellardi).

With the exception of R. nicaraguensis n. sp., neither of the other 2helminth species is unique to N. capito; however, N. capito is a newlyrecognized host for the 2 species. Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis is anewly described species currently known only from Ameiva festiva col-lected in Rio San Juan Province, Nicaragua (Bursey et al., 2006), thesame collection locality as for N. capito. Acanthocephalus saurius wasoriginally described from Norops limifrons collected in Costa Rica(Bursey and Goldberg, 2003) and was subsequently reported in Prion-odactylus oshaughnessyi collected in Brazil (Bursey and Goldberg,2004). Oswaldocruzia nicaraguensis and Acanthocephalus saurius areconsidered to be host generalists (i.e., they reach maturity in more than1 host species). Thus, they could be expected in other hosts of theregion.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Peggy Firth prepared the illustrations of Figures 1–5. Dustin Gotoassisted with dissections.

LITERATURE CITED

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