Ecology, taxonomy and possible life cycles of blood protozoans infecting crag lizards (Pseudocordylus spp.) from the eastern Free State highlands

[摘要] English: The study of blood parasites of reptiles is a relatively new and unexplored field in South Africa. Therefore, the general aims of this research were to explore the haemoparasite fauna of cordylid lizards, Pseudocordylus melanotus, Pseudocordylus subviridis and Pseudocordylus langi, and especially to search for the definitive hosts and likely vectors of their haemogregarines. Surveys of lizard blood were conducted at various altitudinal gradients on the Sentinel Trail in the escarpment area of the Drakensberg, and at the top of Platberg, near Harrismith, both in the Free State. Five species of haemogregarines were identified, all suspected to belong to the genus Hepatozoon, and none was known from previously published records. These occurred in the blood of P. melanotus, P. langi and P. subviridis from the two disjunct study sites, and mostly were accompanied by other haemoparasites including a saurian malaria, so-called Sauroplasma, and filarial nematodes. Developmental stages of two of the Hepatozoon spp. were documented in the internal organs of P. melanotus and P. subviridis by means of light and confocal microscopy, histology, and transmission electron microscopy. Life stages were also observed in ectoparasitic lizard mites, by means of stained histological sections, and in stained squashes of mites and mosquitoes. Three species of experimentally reared mosquitoes were found to act as likely definitive hosts for Hepatozoon spp. of P. melanotus and P. subviridis, while wild caught Culex (Afroculex) lineata appeared to serve as a definitive host, and therefore possible vector for an Hepatozoon species of P. melanotus at the top of Platberg. A saurian malaria that appeared to have features of two previously described species was recorded in P. melanotus and P. subviridis. New locality records for so-called Sauroplasma and filarial nematodes were also documented for the three species of crag lizards. Some aspects of the fine structure of two haemogregarines, the Plasmodium sp. and so-called Sauroplasma infections were recorded for the first time in the erythrocytes of the Pseudocordylus spp. Differential leucocyte and thrombocyte counts were performed on the three crag lizard species and, with erythrocyte characteristics, compared with those of cordylid lizards in previous studies. Several types of leucocytes were characterized ultrastructurally, as well as by light microscopy, and attempts were made to correlate statistically leucocyte counts, and host and environmental data, with parasite loads. Finally, mites and mosquitoes associated with crag lizards were explored further as possible vectors of lizard haemoparasites, and studied using light and scanning electron microscopy.

[发布机构] University of the Free State