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A New Species of Cosmocerca Diesing, 1861 (Nematoda: Cosmocercidae) in Elachistocleis haroi Pereyra, Akmentins, Laufer, and Vaira, 2013 (Amphibia: Microhylidae) from South American Chaco

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Abstract

Purpose

Cosmocercids are common nematodes that parasitize the digestive tract and lungs of amphibians and reptiles around the world. They are commonly found in leptodactylid and bufonid anurans in South America, primarily in Brazil and Argentina. This paper describes a new species of genus Cosmocerca based on specimens collected in a microhylid from the Dry Chaco ecoregion.

Methods

A total of 18 specimens of Elachistocleis haroi were collected in October 2011 in Chaco province and in December 2021 and March 2022 in Formosa province, Argentina, both areas of the Dry Chaco ecoregion. The morphology of the nematodes was studied in detail using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

Results

One hundred and fifty-one nematodes were collected from the large intestines of E. haroi. Based on the morphology of the caudal papillae (rosette papillae and plectanes), the presence of two spicules and the absence of caudal alae in males, and the presence of two prodelphic ovaries in females, these specimens were allocated to the genus Cosmocerca. However, they presented unique characteristics that differentiate them from all known species. Cosmocerca wichiorum sp. nov. is similar to C. archeyi, C. australis, C. sardiniae, C. zugi, and C. leytensis by having four pairs of plectanes, but can be easily distinguished from all of them by the type, number, and arrangement of the precloacal (non-plectanes), adcloacal and postcloacal papillae, by the length of the spicules and by its different zoogeographical distribution.

Conclusion

This is the 14th species of the genus Cosmocerca described in South America and the first one for the microhylid E. haroi from the Dry Chaco ecoregion.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

We thanks to Dr. Marisa Censabella for her pertinent comments regarding the terminology about native peoples and their identity politics, to Dr. Rafael Rigolón for his pleasant talk on the etymology of scientific names, especially those that honor native peoples, and to Dr. Cristian Javier Da Silva for his help in elaboration of the map.

Funding

This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (grant PIP 11220200101582CO to C.E. González and PUE 22920180100001CO to O.F. Gallego) and by Secretaría General de Ciencia y Técnica- Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (SGCyT-UNNE) (grant PI 21Q001 to C.E. González and PI-22Q001 to V.I. Gómez), by CAPES/PPGBAIP/UFPa, Fundação Amazônia de Amparo a Estudos e Pesquisa (FAPESPA) (01/2021 – PROGRAMA DE APOIO A NUCLEOS EMERGENTES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Research productivity scholarship of CNPq to MELO, F.T.V. (Process number 314116/2021–4).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral (CECOAL), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ruta 5, km 2.5, W 3400 AMD, Corrientes, Argentina

    Cynthya E. González, Monika I. Hamann, Valeria I. Gómez & Marta I. Duré

  2. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Helmintologia Profa. Dra. Reinalda Marisa Lanfredi, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil

    Ana N. Santos & Francisco T. V. Melo

  3. Instituto de Investigaciones Geohistóricas (IIGHI), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 3055, 3500, Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina

    Eduardo F. Schaefer

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  1. Cynthya E. González
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  2. Monika I. Hamann
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Collection and examination of amphibians were performed by CG, MH, MD, VG and ES. Morphometric study of females and males of specimens were performed by CG, MH, ANS and FVM. The line drawing was prepared by CG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cynthya E. González.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

We certify that anuran species reported in the study is not threatened, and all procedures were made following the recommendation of the ASIH/HL/SSAR Guidelines for the Use of Live Amphibians and Reptiles. The Subsecretaría de Recursos Naturales, Ordenamiento y Calidad Ambiental, Formosa Province, and the Subsecretaría de Recursos Naturales-Dirección de Fauna y Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Chaco Province, Argentina, authorized the capture of the anurans for this research.

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González, C.E., Hamann, M.I., Santos, A.N. et al. A New Species of Cosmocerca Diesing, 1861 (Nematoda: Cosmocercidae) in Elachistocleis haroi Pereyra, Akmentins, Laufer, and Vaira, 2013 (Amphibia: Microhylidae) from South American Chaco. Acta Parasit. 69, 396–408 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-023-00767-x

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