Blood parasites of Free State and Lesotho reptiles

[摘要] English: The study of blood parasites of reptiles is a relatively new and unexplored field ofresearch in South Africa. The Free State province and the Lesotho highlands provide arange of reptiles in which their intraerythrocytic parasite fauna were explored.Objectives of this study were to set a baseline of blood parasite diversity and to identifythe enigmatic Sauroplasma Du Toit, 1937 and Serpentoplasma Pienaar, 1954 infectionsin lizards and snakes, respectively. Surveys were conducted in various localities in theFree State and Lesotho. Although low in diversity, 204 specimens representing 14species of lizards, and 59 specimens representing 13 species of snakes were investigatedfor the presence of blood parasites. Three known infections were found: Sauroplasmathornasi Du Toit, 1937, Sauromella haemolysus Pienaar, 1954 and Hepatozoon(Haemogregarina) sebae (Laveran and Pettit, 1909) Smith, 1996. These wereredescribed and S. thomasii and H. sebae were examined by aid of transmission electronmicroscopy. The investigation led to the discovery of six new records and possibly newspecies of haemogregarines named Hepatozoon sp. A-F, four new records and possiblynew species of lizard malaria named Plasmodium sp. A-D, and a viral infection possiblyof the Pirhemocyton type. Furthermore nine new host and distribution records forSauroplasma in lizards and nine for Serpentoplasma in snakes are described.Ultrastructural investigations of S. thomasi in Cordylus giganteus A. Smith, 1844,Serpentoplasma in Bitis arietans arietans (Merrem, 1820) and H. sebae in Python sebaenatalensis (Gmelin, 1789) were the first to examine the nature of infections in thismanner. This is the first comprehensive survey of the biodiversity of blood parasites inreptiles in the Free State and Lesotho highlands.

[发布机构] University of the Free State