Brief description of myiasis cases in three amphibian

Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 287-290 (2015) (published online on 18 May 2015)
Brief description of myiasis cases in three amphibian species
from Atlantic Forest located in the central region of
the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Felipe Carvalho de Souza-Pinto1,*, Izabella Fernandes França2 and Cátia Antunes de Mello-Patiu2
Endoparatism in amphibians is widely observed and
several cases have been described in literature (Bursey
and DeWolf, 1998; Bolek and Coggins, 1998; Ghazi and
Noorun-Nisa, 2005; Luque et al., 2005; Van Sluys et al.,
2006; Santos et al., 2008; Nworah and Olorunfemi, 2011;
Gonzalez et al., 2012; Santos et al., 2013; González &
Hamann, 2014); however, there are just few reports of
ectoparasites, wich are restricted to cases of parasitism
by ticks (Sincok and Brum, 1997; Dantas-Torres et
al., 2008), leeches (Loebmann et al., 2008) and some
records of myiasis (Bolek and Coggins, 2002; Bolek
and Javony, 2004; Hoskin and McCallum, 2007; Eaton
et al., 2008; Medina et al., 2009; Travers and Townsend,
2010). In Brazil,only six cases of myiasis have been
reported (Lopes, 1981; Souza et al., 1989; Eizemberg et
al., 2008; Mello-Patiu and Luna-Dias, 2010; CarvalhoFilho et al,. 2010; Oliveira et al., 2012). Myiasis is
defined as a condition caused by dipterous larvae that
can invade the host’s tissue seeking to complete their
development while they feed on its tissue (Pierce, 1981;
Rey 1991, Linhares, 2000).
In January/2011, during daytime transects in
field work in Sabará, MG, Brazil, five specimens
of the class Amphibia were found parasitized by
larvae of Diptera. Three of them were individuals of
Rhinella schneideri(Werner, 1894), one of Scinax
fuscovarius(Lutz, 1925) and one of Scinax gr. ruber.
Biocev Meio Ambiente, Rua Adolfo Radice 320, Mangabeiras
CEP 30315-050, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
2
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional,
Departamento de Entomologia, Quinta da Boa Vista, 20940040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
* Corresponding author e-mail: fcherpeto@gmail.com
They were captured in border areas of seasonal
semideciduous forest with a permanent stream,
permanent pond and temporary puddles.
Specimens were found resting and shortly after capture
we perceived some round skin lesions (x¯ Diameter =
0.55 mm, SD = 0.1359, range = 0.42 to 0.74, N = 5) with
infestation of larvae (Figure 1).
The larvae were collected using a pair of iris
tweezers and placed inethanol (Figure 2). After the
larval removal and treatment with aqueous Polyvinyl
Pyrrolidone Iodine to avoid infection, two individuals
were reintroduced into the local habitat. The other three
individuals captured did not survive this aforementioned
1
Figure 1. Specimen of Rhinella pombali with infestation of
Diptera larvae.
288
Figure 2. Diptera larvae being removed from injury on Scinax
gr. ruber.
procedure and were fixed in a 10% formalin solution
and subsequently kept in a 70% ethanol solution. The
collected individuals were depositedin the scientific
collection of the Herpetology Museum of Natural
Sciences of PUC Minas in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
(MCNAM 17665, MCNAM 17666, MCNAM 17667).
The larvae were identified as belonging to the family
Sarcophagidae (Figure 3). However, due to the larval
stage and the fixation process which interrupted their
development, it was not possible to identify them to
species level. This family has a worldwide distribution
(Pape, 1996) occurring mainly in the tropics (Shewell,
1987; Pape, 1996).
Figure 3. Sarcophagidae larvae removed from injury on
Rhinella schneideri.
Felipe Carvalho de Souza-Pinto et al.
The decomposition process in vertebrates made by
larvae from this specific group is also well known
(Lopes, 1973; Monteiro-Filho and Penereiro, 1987;
Salviano, 1996; Moura et al., 1997; Carvalho et al.,
2000; Carvalho and Linhares, 2001); however, its
parasitic action is small whencompared to other families
of Diptera (Stevens et al., 2006) and yet poorly studied,
especially for amphibians (Crump and Pounds, 1985;
Hagman et al., 2005; Eizemberg et al., 2008; Medina et
al,. 2009; Mello-Patiu and Luna-Dias, 2010).
Interestingly, all individuals were captured during the
daylight, even though they have nocturnal behavior, and
all of them showed signs of activity. From this fact we
can assume that the presence of the larvae may change
their habits, probably causing irritation. As argued by
Medina et al. (2009) it is presumable that larvae have
parasitized specimens during daytime, when amphibian
species are less active and the risk of flies being preyed
is reduced.
According to Stevens et al. (2006) Sarcophagidae
larvae have lower host-specificity, hence showing a
pattern of a short period of larval feeding generating
superficial or cutaneous wounds, and relatively high
levels of pathogenicity. Nonetheless, after analysis
conducted in collected individuals of S. fuscovarius,
internal larvae were found mostly in tissues and viscera
reaching even muscles of the femoral region, though the
abscesses were located near the axillary region which
stands as a pattern usually found in larvae of Oestridae.
However that may be related to the small size of the
host. In individuals of R. schneideri, abscesses were
located near the paratoid glands and in all individuals,
larvae were collected below glands and within them,
demonstrating the resistance of the larvae to toxins
present in these areas.
This is the first record of parasitism by larvae of
Sarcophagidae documented for the genus Scinax and
the first record of this kind of interaction between these
genus and flies for the state of Minas Gerais. Myiasis
cases are poorly documented due to the difficulty of
recording the phenomenon due to the quick action of
parasites (Bolek and Coggins, 2002; Bolek and Janovy,
2004; Mello-Patiu and Luna-Dias, 2010).
For further works or even new records, we suggest to
use the technique indicated by Mello-Patiu and LunaDias (2010), which consists to capture larvae after they
leave hosts, and place them in a container with a soil
sample to allowfurther development, metamorphosis
and subsequently identification at species level of the
imagos.
Brief description of Myiasis cases in three amphibian species from Brazil
Other authors also fix larvae when they are still
immature.This procedure hinders an accurate species
identification of larvae. Due to the large number of
species in the Sarcophagidae family, difficulty of
taxonomic identification and scarce knowledge, it
is relevant to study the adult stages of these larvae to
confirm the species.
Acknowledgements. We thank Dr. Matthew Bolek, Dr. Brian
Eaton and Dr. Fred Kraus for help and support, the Instituto
Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis
(IBAMA) for scientific collection permit, thescientific collection
of the Herpetology Museum of Natural Sciences of PUC Minas
for receiving the specimens, Msc. Cândida Radicchi de Oliveira
Alméri and Rejane Protzner Sileiro for English review and
editing and Dr. Conrado Aleksander Barbosa Galdino for the
report confirming the species identification and the relevance of
this paper.
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Accepted by Mirco Solé