Tomé Beatriz, Maia João P M C, Harris D James
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
J Parasitol. 2012 Oct;98(5):913-7. doi: 10.1645/GE-3111.1. Epub 2012 May 2.
Hepatozoon spp. (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae) are the most commonly reported hemoparasites from snakes. Of over 300 Hepatozoon species identified, more than 120 were described from snakes. However, recent genetic assessments have found Hepatozoon lineages recovered from both prey and predators, indicating that diet may play an important role in the infection of final vertebrate hosts. Here 4 different snake genera with different diets were assessed. Hepatozoon spp. prevalence varied greatly between the genera, but only lineages already identified from potential prey, i.e., gecko and lacertid lizards, were recovered from the snakes. Interestingly, the Hepatozoon spp. lineage known from geckos was the most common in the snakes, but this does not reflect their diet. Higher parasitemia levels, reported for some geckos relative to lacertid lizards, may play a role. Alternatively, this lineage may be more effective at parasitizing snakes or may occur, despite being unrecorded, in other vertebrate groups consumed by snakes.
肝簇虫属（顶复门：血簇虫科）是蛇类中最常被报道的血液寄生虫。在已鉴定的300多种肝簇虫物种中，有120多种是从蛇类中描述的。然而，最近的基因评估发现，从猎物和捕食者中都能检测到肝簇虫谱系，这表明饮食可能在最终脊椎动物宿主的感染中起重要作用。在此，对4种具有不同食性的不同蛇属进行了评估。肝簇虫属的患病率在不同蛇属之间差异很大，但从蛇类中仅检测到已从潜在猎物（即壁虎和蜥蜴）中鉴定出的谱系。有趣的是，已知来自壁虎的肝簇虫属谱系在蛇类中最为常见，但这并不反映它们的饮食情况。相对于蜥蜴而言，一些壁虎的寄生虫血症水平较高，这可能起到了一定作用。或者，该谱系可能在寄生于蛇类方面更有效，或者尽管未被记录，但可能存在于蛇类食用的其他脊椎动物群体中。
