Abstract
Strongyluris calotis is a heterakid nematode in the large intestine of agamid lizards (Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae) from the Oriental Region. The standard light microscopic definition of the species counts the “caudal papillae” as 10 pairs on male worms. However, previous work from our group using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the heterakid from agamid lizards in Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore revealed that this counting contained a pair of phasmids and that two pairs of postcloacal papillae were completely fused to form a pair of united papillae, thus resulting in “10 pairs.” In the present study, we examined S. calotis specimens from the Emma Gray’s forest lizard, Calotes emma (Agamidae), living in the plain forest at low altitude, and the Vietnam false bloodsucker, Pseudocalotes brevipes (Agamidae), living in the mountainous forest at high altitude in the northern part of Vietnam. Using SEM, the arrangement of caudal papillae in male worms from an Emma Gray’s forest lizard was found to be comparable to classical S. calotis specimens from agamid lizards collected in Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. However, male worms from Vietnam false bloodsuckers did not have a pair of united papillae but had 10 pairs of independent caudal papillae with a pair of phasmids. Molecular genetic analyses of the ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) of worms of the classical S. calotis morphotype from Japan and Singapore and two S. calotis morphotypes from Vietnam demonstrated absolutely identical nucleotide sequences of partial 18S rDNA (at least 1764 base pairs (bp)) and 5.8S rDNA (158 bp). However, intraspecific differences were detected in other regions of the rDNA, related to the geographical distribution of hosts regardless of morphotype: 97.8–98.5 % identity (443–446 bp/453 bp) in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-1 region, 96.6–98.0 % identity (425–431 bp/440 bp) in the ITS-2 region, and 99.6–99.7 % identity (1149–1151 bp/1154 bp) in the 28S rDNA. Thus, in the future, taxonomic relationships of S. calotis distributed widely in the Oriental Region as well as other nominal Oriental Strongyluris spp., currently six in number, need to be extensively explored based on molecular genetic analyses in addition to intensive morphological characterization.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Tien Duc Nguyen, IEBR, VAST, for help with the collection of lizards and Dr. Quang Truong Nguyen, Zoology Department, IEBR, VAST, for providing lizards from Bac Kan Province and identification of the host. We are indebted to Prof. Hideo Hasegawa, Oita University, for his invaluable advice on multifaceted parasitological issues; Dr. Cheong Hoong Diong, Nanyang Technological University, for granting us access to S. calotis specimens; and Prof. Shuhei Tanaka, Yamaguchi University, for his kind help with the SEM. The first author (BTT) is supported by a JSPS RONPAKU program for study at Yamaguchi University, Japan. This work was supported in part by a JSPS KAKENHI grant (no. 26291080).
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Tran, B.T., Ong, A.V., Luc, P. et al. Morphological and molecular genetic diversity of Strongyluris calotis (Nematoda: Ascaridida: Heterakidae) in South East and East Asian lizards. Parasitol Res 115, 2807–2816 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5030-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5030-5