Oswaldofilaria chabaudi n. SP. (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) from a South American Tropidurid Lizard (Squamata: Iguania) with an update on oswaldofilarhnae

Abstract

A new species of Oswaldofilaria is described from Tropidurus torquatus (Tropiduridae: lguania); its prevalence at the rocky study area at Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, was approximately 30 % and its mean intensity 3.13 ± 2.51. Oswaldofilaria chabaudi n sp. is distinct from the thirteen Oswaldofilaria species known in Australia, Africa and South-America in having the following characteristics: oesophagus medium-sized, left spicule 1 mm long and high spicular ratio (about 5), tail extremity ornated in both sexes with a bifurcated projection, and tooth-like structures near phasmids in the female. A long left spicule and high spicular ratio are convergent derived characters also found in a parasite of Australian crocodilians, O. kanbaya, and in several species of the closely related genus Befilaria, such as the Central American ß. puertoricensis from pofychrotids. Oswaldofilaria in South America is represented by eight species. Within these, a primitive group that is parasitic in lguanidae, Polychrotidae (lguania) and Crocodylidae and that possesses a long oesophagus is recognised, together with two distinct derived lines: three species with numerous, aligned precloacal papillae, parasitic in Teiidae (Laterata) and Scincidae (Scincomorpha), and O. chabaudi n. sp., in which this character is absent. Tropidurids (Tropiduris and Plica) had previously been reported in the host range of two oswaldofilarine genera, Oswaldofilaria and Piratuba, and their parasites assigned to known species described from other groups of lizards.