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Parasites in a hotspot: diversity and specificity patterns of apicomplexans infecting reptiles from the Socotra Archipelago

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2020

Beatriz Tomé ,
João Maia ,
Ana Perera ,
Salvador Carranza  and
Raquel Vasconcelos Open the ORCID record for Raquel Vasconcelos [Opens in a new window]
Beatriz Tomé
Affiliation:
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
João Maia
Affiliation:
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 4169-007, Porto, Portugal IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain
Ana Perera
Affiliation:
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal
Salvador Carranza
Affiliation:
IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain
Raquel Vasconcelos*
Affiliation:
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain
*
Author for correspondence: Raquel Vasconcelos, E-mail: raquel.vasconcelos@cibio.up.pt
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Abstract

Although parasites represent a major component of biodiversity, they remain poorly assessed, especially in remote regions. In this study, we screened 461 reptiles from Socotra, the largest and most biologically diverse archipelago in Arabia. Using 18S rRNA primers, we detected various apicomplexan parasites, namely haemogregarines, sarcocystids and eimeriids. Haemogregarines were the most common and genetically diverse, followed by sarcocystids (genus Sarcocystis) and eimeriids (genera Isospora and Lankesterella). All were related to parasites of other reptiles, including species from Arabia, Northern Africa and Asia. Like their 29 endemic reptile hosts, almost all Socotran parasites presented high genetic divergence and ecological differences from those found elsewhere, and probably represent undescribed endemic species. Among hosts, skinks were the most parasitized, which contrasted with similar studies from other areas, probably due to their more generalist diet and habitat use. As expected due to its high species richness, geckos harboured the highest parasite diversity in the archipelago. Parasite diversity also seemed to be correlated to island size, as the largest island harboured most haplotypes. This study emphasizes the importance of screening parasites in wild hosts from remote regions and of considering host ecology to understand disease transmission across taxa.

Keywords

Eimeriidendemismhaemogregarinehost-specificityIndian Ocean islandsphylogenysarcocystid
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 148 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 42 - 52
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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