Liolaemus ruibali. Endoparasites.

GABRIEL NATALIO CASTILLO; GERALDINE RAMALLO; JUAN CARLOS ACOSTA

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

Año: 2017 vol. 48 p. 651 - 652

0018-084X

A total of 158 species of the genus Liolaemus occur in Argentina (Abdala and Quinteros 2014. Cuad. Herpetol. 28:55?82). In Argentina, Liolaemus ruibali is distributed across Mendoza and San Juan provinces (Abdala et al. 2012. Cuad. Herpetol. 26:215?248). This small species is predominantly insectivorous (Villavicencio et al. 2005. Multequina 14:47?52), and has a bimodal activity pattern (Castillo et al. 2015.Multequina 24:19?31). The first record of the nematode Parapharyngodon riojensis from Argentina was discovered in the lizard Phymaturus punae from the province of La Rioja (Ramallo et al. 2002. J. Parasitol. 88:979?982), and was later recorded in P. palluma and Liolaemus buergeri from Mendoza and Neuquén (Goldberg et al. 2004. Comp. Parasitol. 71:208?214), and recently in P. extrilidus from the province of San Juan (Ramallo et al. 2017. Herpetol. Rev. 49:198). The purpose of our note is to provide, for the first time, a record of Parapharyngodon riojensis in Liolaemus ruibali. Three specimens of L. ruibali were collected (by noosing) in April 2009 from Quebrada de Vallecito, San Juan Province, Argentina. Phytogeographically, the area is included in the Provincia Altoandina (Cabrera and Willink 1973. Biogeografía de América Latina. Secretaría General de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Washington, DC. 120 pp). For each specimen, the body cavity was opened with a mid-ventral incision, the digestive tract was removed, and its contents examined for helminths using a dissecting microscope. Eleven nematodes (10 females, 1 male) were isolated from the large intestines and identified as Parapharyngodon riojensis. The specimens possessed the characteristic diagnosis: presence of seven caudal papillae, ovaries that do not coil around the esophagus, oval eggs with a punctuated thick shell, and an echinate anal lip in males. Infection prevalence was 100% with a mean intensity of 3.6 (range = 2?5) nematodes per lizard. All of the nematodes were deposited in the Helminthological Collection, Fundación Miguel Lillo, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina (CH-N-FML 7733, 7734). Parapharyngodon riojensis in Liolaemus ruibali is a new host record from Argentina.