A Temporal variation in diet and helminth abundance in the spiny-tailed lizard, Strobilurus torquatus Wiegmann, 1834 (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
From Firenze University Press Journal: Acta Herpetologica
Giovana Dias Silva, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Ciências de Chapadinha, Universidade Federal do Maranhão
Adonias Aphoena Martins Teixeira, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Ciências de Chapadinha, Universidade Federal do Maranhão
Lissa Dellefrate Franzini, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia — DSE, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza — CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba — UFPB, Cidade Universitária
Daniel Oliveira Mesquita, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia — DSE, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza — CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba — UFPB, Cidade Universitária
Samuel Vieira Brito, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Ciências de Chapadinha, Universidade Federal do Maranhão
Lizards are known to act as hosts to several parasites, such as nematodes (e.g., Brito et al., 2014a, b; Araújo-Fil-ho et al., 2016; Teixeira et al., 2017), cestodes (e.g., Brito et al., 2014a, b; Araújo-Filho et al., 2016), trematodes (e.g., Teixeira et al., 2018; Amorim and Ávila, 2019; Araú-jo-Filho et al., 2020; Teixeira et al., 2021) and pentasto-mids (Almeida et al., 2008; Brito et al., 2014a, b; Araújo-Filho et al., 2016). These animals are excellent models for studying how ecological and evolutionary relationships determine the distribution and parasite abundance, since they inhabit different environments, utilize various foraging strategies and present different trophic interactions, body sizes, and reproductive strategies (Aho, 1990). Several factors can affect the survival and distribu-tion of parasites in host populations (Laferty and Kuris, 2005), such as variations in environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, humidity, and precipitation), changes in the availability of intermediate hosts, and physiological changes in final hosts (Noble, 1966; Lafferty and Kuris, 2005; Vasconcellos et al., 2010; Brito et al., 2014b; Araú-jo-Filho et al., 2016), which are commonly seen in envi-ronments with well-defined seasonal regimes (Da Silva et al., 2019; Amorim and Ávila, 2019).Seasonal changes can influence parasite abundance, richness and composition in several ways (Miranda and Andrade, 2003; Fontes et al., 2003; Lafferty and Kuris, 2005). For example, an increase in temperature favours some parasite species, which may accelerate their repro-duction rates, resulting in an increase in population sizes (Lafferty and Kuris, 2005). Temperature is also very important for host species that are ectothermic and require external heat sources for internal temperature regulation. Another climatic factor that can affect parasite species is precipitation, which may favour parasites that lay their eggs in the environment, as well as those that have an aquatic life stage (Lafferty and Kuris, 2005). In recent years, many studies have sought to analyse the influence of seasonal variations on lizard populations and their endoparasites (Ribeiro and Freire, 2011; Gamb-hir et al., 2012; Brito et al., 2014a, b; Araújo-Filho et al., 2016; Oliveira et al., 2017; Amorim and Ávila, 2019). These studies demonstrated that seasonal variations can influence behaviour, reproduction, diet (Miranda and Andrade, 2003; Ribeiro and Freire, 2011) and endopara-site infection rates in lizards (Fontes et al., 2003; Salkeld et al., 2008; Gambhir et al., 2012; Brito et al., 2014a, b; Araújo-Filho et al., 2016; Amorim and Ávila, 2019). Additionally, historical factors (Brito et al., 2014a, b), coupled with ecological traits, can also influence the compositions of host parasite communities. Tropiduridae is one of the most diverse lizard fami-lies in the Neotropical region (Torres-Carvajal, 2004; Rodrigues et al., 2013; Lima-Silva et al., 2021), comprising 138 species that are distributed across eight genera. One of these genera, Strobilurus Wiegmann 1834, is com-posed of only one species, Strobilurus torquatus Wieg-mann,1834 (Uetz et al., 2021), the spiny-tailed lizard, for which there is little available information on its ecology (Rodrigues et al., 1989), distribution (Rodrigues et al., 2013) and associated endoparasite fauna (Teixeira et al., 2020; Lima-Silva et al., 2021). Strobilurus torquatus (Fig. 1) is diurnal, arboreal and insectivorous (Rodrigues et al., 1989). Males are usually larger-bodied than females, and have longer tibias, which may be related to their territorial behaviour (Rodrigues et al., 1989; Frost et al., 2001; Rodrigues et al., 2013; Lima-Silva et al., 2021). This species is distributed along the coastal Atlantic Forest, extending from the state of Rio de Janeiro in the extreme south, through the state of Pernambuco in the north, to the isolated enclaves of tropical forest within the Caatinga in the state of Ceará, in west. (Salles-Silveira et al., 2010; Rodrigues et al., 2013; Lima-Silva et al., 2021). Despite its wide distribution range, S. torquatus is consid-ered a rare species due to its low local abundance, result-ing in a lack of basic information about its biology, ecology and parasitic fauna (Lima-Silva et al., 2021). Therefore, this study aims to verify the influence of seasonality on the diet and endoparasites of Strobilurus torquatus.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-13767
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