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Description of Rhabdias breviensis n. sp. (Rhabditoidea: Rhabdiasidae) in two Neotropical frog species

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Abstract

Nematodes of the genus Rhabdias Stiles & Hassall, 1905 (Rhabditoidea: Rhabdiasidae) have a dioecious free-living stage and a hermaphroditic stage that parasitises the lungs of amphibians and reptiles. Approximately 94 species of Rhabdias have been described. Because the similar morphological characteristics such as the labial structures, the location of the vulva and the shape of the tail of Rhabdias spp. hinder their identification, molecular biology techniques and scanning electron microscopy have been employed to diagnose species of this genus. This study describes Rhabdias breviensis n. sp., parasitic in the lungs of two Neotropical frog species Leptodactylus petersii Steindachner and Leptodactylus macrosternum Miranda-Ribeiro. The description of this species integrates classical taxonomy, scanning electron microscopy and a molecular analysis of the mitochondrial COI gene. The new species differs from all other Rhabdias species parasitic in Neotropical hosts in certain morphometric parameters, the position of the vulva, the host group and the cephalic characters.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Hilton Túlio Costi of the Institutional Laboratory of Scanning Electron Microscopy at the Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum (Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, MPEG), Dr. Claudio Nery Lamarão of the Laboratory of Scanning Electron Microscopy at the Institute of Geosciences, UFPA, for their technical support, Dr. Marinus Steven Hoogmoed, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, for identifying the amphibian specimens, Dr. Yurii Kuzmin, I.I.Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, for discussion on the cephalic characters of the genus Rhabdias, and Caroline Melo, Emanuelle Argolo, Thaís Reis and Fabrísia Silva d’ Encarnação for their technical support in sample collection. Financial support was provided by PROCAD-NF 2009 [Programa Nacional de Cooperação Acadêmica – Ação Novas Fronteiras (National Program of Academic Cooperation – New Frontiers)], a special program of CAPES [Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel)]; SISBiota 2010 [Sistema Nacional de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade (National Research System in Biodiversity)], a program of CNPq [Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development]; PROPESP [Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação (Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies)]; and FADESP [Fundação de Amparo e Desenvolvimento da Pesquisa (Foundation for Research Development)], divisions of UFPA; and Parasitologia Básica 2010 (Basic Parasitology), a special program of CAPES.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Helmintologia “Profa. Dra. Reinalda Marisa Lanfredi”, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Belém, 66075-110, Brazil

    Luciana de Cássia Silva do Nascimento, Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos Melo, Adriano Penha Furtado & Jeannie Nascimento dos Santos

  2. Laboratório de Tecnologia Biomolecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, UFPA, Belém, 66075-110, Brazil

    Evonnildo Costa Gonçalves

  3. Laboratório de Histologia e Embriologia Animal, Instituto de Saúde e Produção Animal, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA), Belém, 66077-901, Brazil

    Elane Guerreiro Giese

Authors
  1. Luciana de Cássia Silva do Nascimento
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  2. Evonnildo Costa Gonçalves
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  3. Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos Melo
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  4. Elane Guerreiro Giese
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  5. Adriano Penha Furtado
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  6. Jeannie Nascimento dos Santos
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Correspondence to Jeannie Nascimento dos Santos.

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de Cássia Silva do Nascimento, L., Gonçalves, E.C., de Vasconcelos Melo, F.T. et al. Description of Rhabdias breviensis n. sp. (Rhabditoidea: Rhabdiasidae) in two Neotropical frog species. Syst Parasitol 86, 69–75 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-013-9432-9

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