Ortíz-Zárate Ricardo J, Rangel-Negrín Ariadna, Coyohua-Fuentes Alejandro, Ibáñez-Bernal Sergio, Cristóbal-Azkarate Jurgi, Dias Pedro A D
Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab, Instituto de Neuro-etología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México.
Instituto de Ecología A. C. (INECOL), Red Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Xalapa, México.
Am J Primatol. 2024 Nov;86(11):e23680. doi: 10.1002/ajp.23680. Epub 2024 Aug 27.
Parasitism is a strong selective pressure, and its study is crucial for predicting the persistence of host species. Mantled howler monkeys are infected by the larvae of the bot fly Cuterebra baeri. This parasitosis produces myiasis and may have negative impacts on host health, although systematic information on the dynamics of this host-parasite relationship is very limited. Currently, all available information on infection patterns of C. baeri comes from a single mantled howler monkey population (Barro Colorado Island, Panama). Therefore, in this study we describe temporal variation in infection patterns for a newly mantled howler monkey population and analyze the relationship between climate and infection likelihood. We assessed the presence of C. baeri nodules in 17 adult individuals in Los Tuxtlas for 10 months through direct observation and compiled data on ambient temperature and rainfall. Most subjects had nodules during the study and there were no differences between sexes in the number of nodules. Nodules were usually located in the neck. Prevalence and abundance of nodules peaked thrice during the study (February, April, and September), a pattern that was very similar to that of parasitism intensity (February, April, and August). Incidence closely tracked these peaks, increasing before and decreasing after them. The likelihood of nodule appearance increased when both mean and minimum temperature decreased in the 24-21 prior days to nodule appearance. It also increased with decreased rainfall in the 5-2 prior days to nodule appearance. Although only three of the eight analyzed climate variables had a significant effect on parasitosis, these results suggest that climate may affect pupal development and the access of larvae to hosts. Besides contributing data on C. baeri parasitism for a new mantled howler monkey population, our study provides novel information on the influence of environmental factors on the dynamics of host-parasite systems.
寄生是一种强大的选择压力，对其进行研究对于预测宿主物种的存续至关重要。鬃毛吼猴会被肤蝇Cuterebra baeri的幼虫感染。这种寄生虫病会引发蝇蛆病，可能对宿主健康产生负面影响，尽管关于这种宿主 - 寄生虫关系动态的系统信息非常有限。目前，所有关于巴氏肤蝇感染模式的可用信息都来自一个鬃毛吼猴种群（巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛）。因此，在本研究中，我们描述了一个新的鬃毛吼猴种群感染模式的时间变化，并分析了气候与感染可能性之间的关系。我们通过直接观察，在10个月内评估了洛斯图斯特拉斯的17只成年个体中巴氏肤蝇结节的存在情况，并收集了环境温度和降雨量的数据。在研究期间，大多数个体都有结节，且结节数量在性别上没有差异。结节通常位于颈部。在研究期间，结节的患病率和丰度出现了三次峰值（2月、4月和9月），这一模式与寄生虫感染强度的模式（2月、4月和8月）非常相似。发病率紧密跟踪这些峰值，在峰值之前增加，之后减少。在结节出现前的24 - 21天，当平均温度和最低温度下降时，结节出现的可能性增加。在结节出现前的5 - 2天，随着降雨量的减少，结节出现的可能性也增加。尽管在分析的八个气候变量中只有三个对寄生虫病有显著影响，但这些结果表明气候可能会影响蛹的发育以及幼虫接近宿主的机会。除了为一个新的鬃毛吼猴种群提供关于巴氏肤蝇寄生的数据外，我们的研究还提供了关于环境因素对宿主 - 寄生虫系统动态影响的新信息。
