Hemoparasitos em anuros na Amazônia Oriental, Brasil

Abstract

Biological interactions play an important role by maintaining and regulating natural populations. As most interactions, parasitism may be influenced by the environment, with anthropogenic changes caused by humans strongly affecting the equilibrium in biological assemblages of their hosts. Herein, we described and analyzed the hemoparasites richness and composition in anurans from oil palm crops and surrounding forest fragments in the eastern Amazon, Brazil. In addition, we analyzed which hemoparasites are most frequent and whether the type of infection is related with anurans habits (terrestrial or arboreal). We collected 128 anurans in both environments (forest and oil palm plantations) during rainy season, in April 2016 and 2017. In the laboratory, we collected blood samples from each individual, and carried out smear and imprint methods of their livers to identify the parasites. We found seven hemoparasites groups in 55 individuals (43%) in both habitats. In oil palm plantations, there were more infected specimens and more mixed infections than in forests. Parasites of the genus Trypanosoma were the most frequent, found in 67% of infected anurans in both environments. Besides, we identified six distinct morphological groups, mainly in terrestrial anurans. We found two distinct Haemogregarines groups in six anurans, most terrestrial. In addition, we found an Apicomplexa parasite in specimens of Trachycephalus typhonius, which is probably a new taxon and will be studied a posteriori.