{"title":"First infestation record of Epicrates cenchria cenchria (Squamata: Boidae) by Porocephalus (Pentastomida: Porocephalidae) in Ecuador","authors":"G. Pozo-Zamora, M. Yanez-Muñoz","doi":"10.21068/c2019.v20n01a08","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Endoparasites of the genus Porocephalus, which mainly affect lungs of snakes, are distributed in Asia, Africa and America. In Ecuador, these parasites have been reported only for Boa constrictor . Here, we report the first record of infestation of Porocephalus in Epicrates cenchria cenchria from the Ecuadorian Amazon, based on examination of museum specimens. We found 26 parasitic individuals in 4 infected snakes, with a maximum of 16 individuals in a juvenile snake, and a minimum of 2 in an adult snake. Morphometric characters of the Ecuadorian populations of Porocephalus do not agree with those described for the genus. Therefore, we recommend a thorough analysis to define the taxonomic identity of these parasites.","PeriodicalId":36353,"journal":{"name":"Biota Colombiana","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biota Colombiana","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.21068/c2019.v20n01a08","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Environmental Science","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Endoparasites of the genus Porocephalus, which mainly affect lungs of snakes, are distributed in Asia, Africa and America. In Ecuador, these parasites have been reported only for Boa constrictor . Here, we report the first record of infestation of Porocephalus in Epicrates cenchria cenchria from the Ecuadorian Amazon, based on examination of museum specimens. We found 26 parasitic individuals in 4 infected snakes, with a maximum of 16 individuals in a juvenile snake, and a minimum of 2 in an adult snake. Morphometric characters of the Ecuadorian populations of Porocephalus do not agree with those described for the genus. Therefore, we recommend a thorough analysis to define the taxonomic identity of these parasites.