Hemoparasites Do Not Affect Life-History Traits and Cellular Immune Response in Treefrog Hosts Boana cordobae

POLLO, FAVIO; SALINAS, ZULMA; BARAQUET, MARIANA; OTERO, MANUEL A.; GRENAT, PABLO R.; SALAS, NANCY; MARTINO, ADOLFO L.; SINSCH, ULRICH

Animals

Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Lugar: Basilea; Año: 2023 vol. 13

2076-2615

We provide the first evidence for hemoparasites in theendemic Cordoba treefrog Boana cordobae. We collected37 adult frogs at 1200 m a.s.l. in the Comechingones Mountains in the Córdoba province(Argentina). Each individual was sexed, then snout–vent length and body masswere recorded, a toe was collected for skeletochronological age determination,and a slide with a blood smear was prepared for hemoparasite screening, beforereleasing the frogs in situ. A total of 81% (n = 30) of the frogs were infectedby hemogregarines and trypanosomes with a high intensity of infections. Dactylosoma was found forthe first time in Argentina. Hemoparasites had no significant effect on theleukocyte profile, which we assessed from the May–Grünwald–Giemsa-stained bloodsmears. The neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio, indicative of stress, wasinsignificantly higher (0.06) in parasitized frogs than in parasite-freeindividuals (0.04). Infected frogs were larger than the controls, but thiseffect vanished when correcting size data for age. Young frogs (first-breeders)dominated the age distribution of parasite-free individuals, suggesting thatinfection of frogs takes usually place after sexual maturation. Vectorstransmitting hemoparasites to B. cordobae remain to beidentified. We demonstrate that moderate to high intensities of hemoparasitesdo not significantly affect the cellular immune response of B. cordobae, or any ofthe life-history traits studied, nor did they show any external sign of disease