Kelehear Crystal, Spratt David M, O'Meally Denis, Shine Richard
School of Biological Sciences, A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2013 Dec 31;3(1):20-31. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2013.12.003. eCollection 2014 Apr.
Pentastomids are endoparasites of the respiratory system of vertebrates, maturing primarily in carnivorous reptiles. Adult and larval pentastomids can cause severe pathology resulting in the death of their intermediate and definitive hosts. The study of pentastomids is a neglected field, impaired by risk of zoonoses, difficulties in species identification, and life cycle complexities. We surveyed wild snakes in the tropics of Australia to clarify which host species possess these parasites, and then sought to identify these pentastomids using a combination of morphological and molecular techniques. We detected pentastomid infections in 59% of the 81 snakes surveyed. The ubiquity of pentastomid infections in snakes of the Australian tropics sampled in this study is alarmingly high considering the often-adverse consequences of infection and the recognized zoonotic potential of these parasites. The pentastomids were of the genera Raillietiella and Waddycephalus and infected a range of host taxa, encompassing seven snake species from three snake families. All seven snake species represent new host records for pentastomids of the genera Raillietiella and/or Waddycephalus. The arboreal colubrid Dendrelaphis punctulatus and the terrestrial elapid Demansia vestigiata had particularly high infection prevalences (79% and 100% infected, respectively). Raillietiella orientalis infected 38% of the snakes surveyed, especially frog-eating species, implying a frog intermediate host for this parasite. Raillietiella orientalis was previously known only from Asian snakes and has invaded Australia via an unknown pathway. Our molecular data indicated that five species of Waddycephalus infect 28% of snakes in the surveyed area. Our morphological data indicate that features of pentastomid anatomy previously utilised to identify species of the genus Waddycephalus are unreliable for distinguishing species, highlighting the need for additional taxonomic work on this genus.
舌形虫是脊椎动物呼吸系统的内寄生虫，主要在肉食性爬行动物体内成熟。成年和幼虫舌形虫可导致严重病变，致使中间宿主和终末宿主死亡。舌形虫研究是一个被忽视的领域，受到人畜共患病风险、物种鉴定困难以及生命周期复杂等因素的影响。我们对澳大利亚热带地区的野生蛇类进行了调查，以明确哪些宿主物种携带这些寄生虫，然后试图结合形态学和分子技术来鉴定这些舌形虫。在我们调查的81条蛇中，有59%检测到感染了舌形虫。考虑到感染通常会带来不良后果以及这些寄生虫已被确认的人畜共患病潜力，本研究中澳大利亚热带地区蛇类舌形虫感染的普遍性高得惊人。这些舌形虫属于瑞氏舌形虫属和瓦氏头舌形虫属，感染了一系列宿主分类群，包括来自三个蛇科的七种蛇类。所有这七种蛇类均代表瑞氏舌形虫属和/或瓦氏头舌形虫属舌形虫的新宿主记录。树栖游蛇科的点斑林蛇和陆栖眼镜蛇科的威氏眼镜蛇感染率特别高（分别为79%和100%）。东方瑞氏舌形虫感染了38%的被调查蛇类，尤其是食蛙物种，这意味着该寄生虫的中间宿主是蛙类。东方瑞氏舌形虫此前仅在亚洲蛇类中被发现，它通过未知途径侵入了澳大利亚。我们的分子数据表明，五种瓦氏头舌形虫感染了调查区域内28%的蛇类。我们的形态学数据表明，先前用于鉴定瓦氏头舌形虫属物种的舌形虫解剖特征在区分物种方面并不可靠，这凸显了对该属进行更多分类学研究的必要性。
