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. 2019 Dec;81(12):e23063.
doi: 10.1002/ajp.23063. Epub 2019 Nov 6.

A multiyear survey of helminths from wild saddleback (Leontocebus weddelli) and emperor (Saguinus imperator) tamarins

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A multiyear survey of helminths from wild saddleback (Leontocebus weddelli) and emperor (Saguinus imperator) tamarins

Gideon A Erkenswick et al. Am J Primatol. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

The establishment of baseline data on parasites from wild primates is essential to understand how changes in habitat or climatic disturbances will impact parasite-host relationships. In nature, multiparasitic infections of primates usually fluctuate temporally and seasonally, implying that the acquisition of reliable data must occur over time. Individual parasite infection data from two wild populations of New World primates, the saddleback (Leontocebus weddelli) and emperor (Saguinus imperator) tamarin, were collected over 3 years to establish baseline levels of helminth prevalence and parasite species richness (PSR). Secondarily, we explored variation in parasite prevalence across age and sex classes, test nonrandom associations of parasite co-occurrence, and assess the relationship between group size and PSR. From 288 fecal samples across 105 individuals (71 saddleback and 34 emperor tamarins), 10 parasite taxa were identified by light microscopy following centrifugation and ethyl-acetate sedimentation. Of these taxa, none were host-specific, Dicrocoeliidae and Cestoda prevalences differed between host species, Prosthenorchis and Strongylida were the most prevalent. Host age was positively associated with Prosthenorchis ova and filariform larva, but negatively with cestode and the Rhabditoidea ova. We detected no differences between expected and observed levels of co-infection, nor between group size and parasite species richness over 30 group-years. Logistic models of individual infection status did not identify a sex bias; however, age and species predicted the presence of four and three parasite taxa, respectively, with saddleback tamarins exhibiting higher PSR. Now that we have reliable baseline data for future monitoring of these populations, next steps involve the molecular characterization of these parasites, and exploration of linkages with health parameters.

Keywords: Callitrichidae; Neotropics; baseline data; free-ranging; parasite infections.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Micrographs and measurements for each parasite
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Averaged number of changes in individual infection status by host species across the study period.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Observed versus expected prevalence of parasite co-infection. Each dot represents a unique pairwise combination of parasites

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