Comparative Parasitology 67(1) 2000 - Peru State College

Comp. Parasitol.
67(1), 2000 pp. 118-121
Research Note
Gastrointestinal Helminths of Four Lizard Species from
Moorea, French Polynesia
STEPHEN R. GOLDBERG, u CHARLES R. BuRSEY,2 AND HAY CHEAM'
1 Department of Biology, Whittier College, Whittier, California 90608, U.S.A.
(e-mail: sgoldberg@whitticr.edu) and
2 Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146,
U.S.A. (e-mail: cxbl3@psu.edu)
ABSTRACT: The gastrointestinal tracts of 82 lizards
comprising 2 gekkonids, Gehyra oceanica (N = 20)
and Lepidodactylus lugubris (N =31), and 2 scincids,
Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus (N = 4) and Emoia
cyanura (N = 27), from Moorea, French Polynesia,
were examined for helminths. One species of cestode,
Cylindrotaenia decidua, 5 species of nematodes, Maxvachonia
chabaudi, Pharyngodon oceanicus, Spauligodon
gehyrae, Skrjabinoptera sp. (larvae), and an unidentified
oxyurid were found. Eleven new host records
and 11 new locality records are reported.
KEY WORDS: lizard, Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus,
Emoia cyanura, Gehyra oceanica, Lepidodactylus
lugubris, Cestoda, Nematoda, Moorea, French Poly-
Eight species of lizards—the snake-eyed
skink, Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus (Wiegmann,
1834); the moth skink, Lipinia noctua
(Lesson, 1830); the copper-tailed skink, Emoia
cyanura (Lesson, 1830); the stump-toed gecko,
Gehyra mutilata (Wiegmann, 1834); the oceanic
gecko, Gehyra oceanica (Lesson, 1830); the
Indo-Pacific gecko, Hemidactylus garnotii Dumeril
and Bibron, 1836; the Indo-Pacific tree
gecko, Hemiphyllodactylus typus Bleeker, 1860;
and the mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris
(Dumeril and Bibron, 1836)—occur on Moorea,
French Polynesia (Ineich and Blanc, 1988).
These species are widely distributed in the Pacific
Islands (Burt and Burt, 1932). Helminths
have been reported from G. oceanica, H. garnotii,
and L. lugubris (Table 1), but to our
knowledge, there are no published reports of
helminths from the other 5 lizard species. The
purpose of this note is to report helminths for C.
poecilopleurus, E. cyanura, G. oceanica, and L.
lugubris from Moorea, French Polynesia, and to
list 11 new host and 11 new locality records for
these helminths.
3 Corresponding author.
118
Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington
Of the 8 species of lizards on Moorea, 82 individuals
representing 4 species were collected by
hand by one of us (S.R.G.) in April 1992: 4 C.
poecilopleurus, 7 E. cyanura, 3 G. oceanica at
Marae Titiroa, 2 km below Belvedere Viewpoint,
ca. 457 m elevation, Opunohu Valley (17°33'S,
149°50'W); 20 E. cyanura, 12 G. oceanica, 11 L.
lugubris at the Richard B. Gump South Pacific
Biological Research Station, ca. 60 m elevation,
ca. 3 km west of Paopao (17°31'S, 149°49'W); 5
G. oceanica, 20 L. lugubris at Paopao, ca. 20 m
elevation (17°31'S, 149°51'W). These were the
only lizard species observed at the time of collection.
Lizards were fixed in 10% formalin for 24
hours and preserved in 70% ethanol. The abdominal
cavity was opened, and the esophagus,
stomach, and small and large intestines were removed,
slit longitudinally, and examined under
a dissecting microscope. All lizards were deposited
in the herpetology collection of the Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County
(LACM), Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.: C.
poecilopleurus: LACM 141065-141068; E. cyanura:
LACM 141038-141064; G. oceanica:
LACM 141009-141028; L. lugubris: LACM
140976-141006.
Each nematode was cleared on a glass slide
in undiluted glycerol. Cestodes were stained
with hematoxylin and mounted in balsam. Identifications
were made from these preparations
with use of a compound microscope. Number of
helminths, prevalence, mean intensity, and range
of infection are given in Table 2. Terminology
is in accordance with Bush et al. (1997).
One species of cestode, Cylindrotaenia decidua
(Ainsworth, 1985), and 5 species of nematodes,
Maxvachonia chabaudi Mawson, 1972;
Pharyngodon oceanicus Bursey and Goldberg,
1999; Spauligodon gehyrae Bursey and Gold-