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The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications.

Ectoparasites such as hematophagous leeches and monogeneans are common in chelonians, occupying different parts of the body. Thus, the present study aimed to identify and describe the fauna of ectoparasites that infest Phrynops geoffroanus and Mesoclemmys tuberculata to evaluate the effect of host conditions and seasonality (dry and rainy season) on the abundance and composition of ectoparasites. We verified the presence of ectoparasites in 73.2% of the examined turtles, with four species of leeches belonging to Glossiphoniidae, Haementeria brasiliensis sensu Cordero, 1937, Helobdella cf. adiastola, Haementeria sp1., and Haementeria sp2., and one monogenean Polystomatidae, Polystomoides brasiliensis. For both chelonians, we observed a significant difference in the abundance of ectoparasites in relation to sex, biome, and season, which was unrelated to length and mass. Leeches were more frequent in the cavities of the hind limbs in P. geoffroanus, and the anterior limbs of M. tuberculata. The general spatial niche overlap of ectoparasites was high, except for that of the monogenean P. brasiliensis, which did not overlap with those of other leech species. The present study is the first report of the presence of H. brasiliensis and P. brasiliensis parasitizing M. tuberculata, and Helobdella cf. adiastola in a phoretic relationship with P. geoffroanus and M. tuberculata. Finally, the differences in infestation levels may reflect ecological factors, differences in behavioral patterns of the hosts, and different anthropic alterations suffered in the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest biomes.

A predação é um fator ecológico que regula a vida dos lagartos, entretanto, sua visualização na natureza é esporádica. Quando os predadores são serpentes crípticas, temos registros ainda mais escassos. Aqui nós apresentamos a predação de Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) pela serpente bicuda Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler in Spix, 1824). Alguns estudos já identificaram lagartos do gênero Tropidurus Wied-Neuwied, 1824 como presas de O. aeneus. No entanto, este registro fornece informações que contemplam importantes aspectos da história natural das duas espécies, contribuindo para a compreensão de suas ecologias.Palavras chave: Ecologia alimentar, dieta, Paraíba, Saurofagia.

We examined 31 specimens of Rhinella granulosa from the semiarid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil for the presence of gastrointestinal nematodes. We found 7 nematode taxa: Rhabdias androgyna, Raillietnema spectans, Aplectana membranosa, Oswaldocruzia sp., Physaloptera sp., Raillietnema sp., and cosmocercidae larvae. The total prevalence was 25.8% and by mean intensity of infection (± SD) was 50 ± 7.36. The prevalence in males was 10% with an intensity of 4 while in females it was 42.85% with a mean intensity of 42 ± 8.55. The juveniles presented a prevalence of 14.28% and an intensity of 4. Rhinella granulosa represents a new host for the following nematodes: Rhabdias androgyna, Raillietnema spectans, and Raillietnema sp.

Summary We tested the role of sex, size, and mass of the lizards Phyllopezus pollicaris, Gymnodactylus geckoides, Hemidactylus agrius, Lygodactylus klugei, and Hemidactylus brasilianus on the rates of pentastomid infection in the Brazilian Caatinga. We collected 355 individuals of these five species, of which four (prevalence of infection: P. pollicaris 15.9 %, G. geckoides 1.4 %, H. agrius 28.57 %, and H. brasilianus 4.16 %) were infected by Raillietiella mottae. Parasite abundance was influenced by host body size and mass only in P. pollicaris. Host sex did not influence the abundance of parasites in any species. Hemidactylus agrius, G. geckoides, and H. brasilianus are three new host records for pentastomids.

The distribution of parasites within host populations and communities, and the mechanisms responsible for these patterns, are poorly understood aspects of wildlife parasitology. Here, we evaluate the influence of the average abundance of endoparasite variance, using endoparasites of lizards from the Caatinga domain (semiarid region), north-eastern Brazil. We hypothesized that, due to the high number of generalist endoparasite species, they may occur randomly throughout host populations in an aggregate pattern. In addition, we evaluated the degree to which sample variance is influenced by the average abundance of endoparasite species, patterns of co-occurrence and dominance among endoparasite species and similarities between abundance and the richness of endoparasite infracommunities in several host species. Between September 2015 and February 2016, 2141 lizards (1233 infected) from 16 species were collected from six Caatinga areas. In total, 25,687 endoparasites were collected, which belonged to 13 species including nematodes, pentastomids, cestodes, trematodes and acanthocephalans. Parasite–host associations documented here included 39 newly identified interactions. Endoparasites occurred in a typical aggregate pattern of distribution within their hosts; there was no measurable preference related to the acquisition of hosts by endoparasites. Despite the new records, endoparasites found were commonly associated with lizards in Caatinga environments, which may reflect fauna composed of generalist endoparasite species.

On 27 March 2011, 20 specimens of L. macrosternum were collected in the municipality of Aiuaba at the Ecological Station of Aiuaba, Brazil. Of the 20 frogs examined, four were infected with five nematodes in the lungs. Five specimens of R. fuelleborni are found. To our knowledge, L. macrosternum is a new host for R. fuelleborni .

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T15:58:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-01-01 We analyzed the patterns of infection by helminths in populations of the Gymnophthalmidae lizard Dryadosaura nordestina from three Atlantic Forest fragments in Northeast Brazil. Prevalence and mean intensity of infection by location showed the following results: ARIE Mata de Goiamunduba (60.8 % and 10.4 ± 8), RPPN Engenho Gargaú (83.3 % and 20.8 ± 19.7) and Benjamim Maranhaõ Botanical Garden (70.4 % and 7.78 ± 5.8). We provide the first records of helminth infection for the lizard D. nordestina, in which three species of nematodes, Aplectana sp., Cosmocerca sp. and Physaloptera lutzi and one trematode Haplometroides odhneri were recovered. Trematodes of the genus Haplometroides were previously known as parasites only in snake and amphisbaenian hosts in South America. Now, our study provides the first record of a species belonging to this genus parasitizing lizards. In conclusion, our study shows that D. nordestina have a depleted helminth fauna (three species at maximum), similar to other studies with lizards of this family in Brazil and that its parasite abundance is related to host snout-vent length, but not to the sex. Programa de Pós-Graduacaõ em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia) Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia-DSe Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza-CCEN Universidade Federal da Paraíba-UFPB Cidade Universitária Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP Campus Botucatu Instituto de Biociências Departamento de Parasitologia Centro de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Universidade Federal Do Maranhaõ Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Regional Do Cariri-URCA Campus Pimenta, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz 1161 Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP Campus Botucatu Instituto de Biociências Departamento de Parasitologia

We identified Miranda's white-lipped frog (Leptodactylus macrosternum) as a new host for chiggers (Hannemania sp.). A total of 57 larvae of Hannemania sp. were found on 31 frogs examined from a semiarid region of northeastern Brazil.

We investigated the parasites of five lizard species belonging to Phyllodactylidae (Phyllopezus pollicaris and Gymnodactylus geckoides) and Gekkonidae (Hemidactylus agrius, Lygodactylus klugei and Hemidactylus brasilianus) families in a semiarid region of Brazil. Six nematode species were identified: Parapharyngodon alvarengai and Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis (Pharyngodonidae), Physaloptera lutzi (Physalopteridae), Skrjabinelazia intermedia (Seuratidae), Trichospirura sp. (Rhabdochonidae) and Piratuba sp. (Onchocercidae), and a cestode species, Oochoristica sp. (Linstowiidae). The most prevalent species were Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis, which infected P. pollicaris (75%), and Parapharyngodon alvarengai, which infected G. geckoides (29%). South American lizards were identified as being new hosts for the Trichospirura genus (a usual parasite of mammals), and there were 16 new occurrences of parasite species in the five lizard species studied herein.

The leiuperid genus Pleurodema (Tshudi, 1838) currently comprises 15 species widely distributed in the Neotropical region (Frost, 2011), mainly in dry forests and open areas (Ferraro and Casagranda, 2009; Kolenc et al., 2009). Pleurodema diplolister (Peters, 1870) is the only species in the genus known to inhabit the Caatinga biome (shrub-like vegetation) (Cardoso and Arzabe, 1993). The species is also found in the Brazilian Cerrado and Cerrado-Caatinga transition zones (Andrade and Vaz-Silva, 2012).Pleurodema diplolister is a fossorial and omnivorous frog, and its explosive reproduction shows greater specialization between the anuran communities of the Caatinga (Hodl, 1992; Cardoso and Arzabe, 1993; Santos et al., 2003).Parasitological studies are important to understand host population dynamics, as well behavioral, morphological and dietary shifts, especially within highly specialized anurans such as P.diplolister. To date, only two records of parasitism in the genus Pleurodema are available, all of these by nematodes of the family Cosmocercidae: Aplectana meriodionalis Lent and Freitas, 1948 infecting Pleurodema borellii Peracca, 1895 (Baker, 1980) and Oxyascaris oxyascaris Travassos, 1920 in diplolisterP. (Vicente et al., 1990).Herein, we present data on helminth infection of the frog P. diplolister in the Caatinga of Pernambuco State, Brazil.

The lizard Salvator merianae is a widely distributed species in South America, occurring from southern Amazonia to the eastern Andes and northern Patagonia. Studies on the parasitic fauna of this lizard have revealed that it is a host for helminths in various Brazilian biomes. The present work provides new parasitological data on the gastrointestinal nematodes associated with the lizard S. merianae. Sixteen specimens were analyzed from nine different locations in a semi-arid region in northeastern Brazil. Five species of nematodes were identified. Oswaldofilaria petersi was first recorded as a parasite of the S. merianae, thus increasing the knowledge of the fauna of parasites that infect large Neotropical lizards. Resumo O lagarto Salvator merianae é uma espécie bem distribuída na América do Sul, ocorrendo do sul da Amazônia até o leste dos Andes e norte da Patagônia. Estudos com a fauna parasitária desse lagarto revelaram que ele hospeda helmintos em vários biomas brasileiros. O presente trabalho fornece novo dado parasitológico sobre nematoda gastrointestinal associado ao lagarto S. merianae. Dezesseis amostras foram analisadas a partir de nove localidades diferentes na região semiárida do nordeste do Brasil. Foram identificadas cinco espécies de nematóide. Oswaldofilaria petersi foi registrado pela primeira vez parasitando S. merianae, aumentando assim o conhecimento da fauna de parasitas que infectam grandes lagartos neotropicais.

Nematodes were analyzed in Iguana iguana, a large lizard Iguanidae that is widely distributed throughout the Americas. The aims of the study were investigate the helminths associated with the lizard, I. iguana in semi-arid areas of northeastern Brazil and analyze the parasitological indices (prevalence, and mean intensity of infection). A total of 18 specimens of I. iguana were examined (8 males and 10 females). The overall prevalence of infection was 66.6% (12/18), while in males, it was 75% (6/8) and in females, 60% (6/10). Iguana iguana was identified as a new host for Physaloptera sp., Atractis sp., Piratuba sp. and Subulura sp. This registered contributes to the knowledge of helminth diversity associated with this host.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-03T15:30:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-11-01. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-11-04T10:15:53Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S1519-69842014000400943.pdf: 801219 bytes, checksum: cbe9e69cc486a56335f0da3321496b65 (MD5) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Helmintos e pentastomídeos foram analisados em lagartos exóticos Hemidactylus mabouia e nativos Phyllopezus pollicaris, vivendo sinantropicamente em uma área urbana da cidade de Crato, Estado do Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil. Foram coletados 194 lagartos, sendo 76 espécimes de H. mabouia e 118 de P. pollicaris. Seis espécies de parasitas foram encontradas infectando H. mabouia: Oochoristica sp., Parapharyngodon sceleratus, Physaloptera retusa, Physalopteroides venancioi, Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis e Raillietiella mottae; enquanto em P. pollicaris foram encontradas quatro espécies: Oochoristica sp., P. sceleratus, P. retusa, and S. oxkutzcabiensis. Três novos registros de hospedeiros são reportados: P. retusa em H. mabouia e Oochoristica sp. e P. retusa infectando P. pollicaris. Cerca de 75% dos parasitas encontrados foram compartilhados pelas espécies de lagartos. Ainda, H. mabouia apresentou maior diversidade de parasitas do que P. pollicaris (6 espécies versus 4), enquanto P. pollicaris possui maior intensidade de infecção media do que H. mabouia (1.536 versus 121). Helminths and pentastomids were examined in exotic Hemidactylus mabouia and native Phyllopezus pollicaris lizards, living synanthropically in an urban area in the municipality of Crato, Ceara state, northeastern Brazil. A total of 194 lizards were collected, being 76 specimens of H. mabouia e 118 specimens of P. pollicaris. Six parasite species were found infecting H. mabouia: the cestode Oochoristica sp., the nematodes Parapharyngodon sceleratus, Physaloptera retusa, Physalopteroides venancioi, and Spauligodon oxkutzcabiensis and the pentastomid Raillietiella mottae; while four parasite species were found associated with P. pollicaris: Oochoristica sp., P. sceleratus, P. retusa, and S. oxkutzcabiensis. Three new host records were reported: P. retusa infecting H. mabouia and P. retusa and Oochoristica sp. infecting P. pollicaris. About 75% of the parasites species found were shared by both lizards. Moreover, H. mabouia showed greater diversity than P. pollicaris (6 versus 4 species), while P. pollicaris had higher intensity of infection than H. mabouia (1536 versus 121 specimens). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia – DSE, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza – CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba – UFPB, Cidade Universitária, Campus I, CEP 58059-900, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz, 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, CE, Brazil. Departamento de Biologia e Zootecnia, Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira, Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP, Passeio Monção, 226, CEP 15385000, Ilha Solteira, SP, Brazil. CNPq: PQ-311713/2012-2