Diversidade de hemoparasitos em lagartos da Amazônia Central

Abstract

Parasites are recognized for their great ability to influence the evolution and ecology of their hosts, at the individual and community levels. However, in Brazil, one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, studies on parasitism in wild populations are still relatively scarce. In the Brazilian Amazonia, previous surveys found a rich fauna of blood parasites in lizards and gave indications of a high potential for the discovery of new species. In this context, the present thesis investigated the occurrence of hemoparasites in lizards from Central Amazonia, exploring over three chapters aspects related to the diversity, taxonomy and their ecological-evolutionary relationships. For this purpose, blood samples were obtained from different lizard species captured in areas of upland forests (terra-firme), located near the municipalities of Manaus, Presidente Figueiredo and Rio Preto da Eva, in the State of Amazonas, Brazil. In the first chapter, results on the prevalence and richness of hemoparasites found in these locations were gathered, also presenting an updated list of studies carried out in Brazil involving hemoparasites in lizards. The second chapter presents the taxonomic redescription, using morphological and molecular data, of a hemogregarine species, Hepatozoon ameivae, detected in Ameiva ameiva lizards. In the third chapter, we raised the hypothesis that the ecology of the lizard Uranoscodon superciliosus is shaping the diversity of the trypanosomes that parasitize it, which can be evidenced by the phylogenetic relationships of the two new trypanosome genotypes isolated from this host species. Finally, the results obtained in this thesis expanded the knowledge about the diversity and distribution of hemoparasites in Brazil, in addition to novel information about the host-parasite system formed by lizards and their hemoparasites in the Amazonian region.