Porocephalus species (Pentastomida) infecting Boa constrictor (Boidae) and Lachesis muta (Viperidae) in northeastern Brazil

Brazil has a great diversity of snakes, but there are few published works concerning parasitism in these animals. The present paper examined pulmonary infection by pentastomids in large snakes from northeastern Brazil, including six specimens of Boa constrictor and two examples of Lachesis muta from the Serpentarium of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Brazil, all of which were collected in the Atlantic Coastal Forest. One specimen of B. constrictor was infected by Porocephalus sp. (intensity of infection 5.0) and one specimen of L. muta was infected by P. stilesi (intensity of infection 15.0).

Brazil has a great diversity of snakes and associated parasite fauna.These parasites have signi¿ cant but littlestudied roles in the regulation of ophidian populations, local extinctions, and the spread of infectious diseases.Among the principal snake parasites encountered in Brazil are the pentastomids, which are known to infect the respiratory tracts of these animals (Rego, 1981a(Rego, , 1984(Rego, and 1987;;Almeida and Christoffersen, 2002;Almeida et al., 2006 and2007).Infections caused by these parasites can be very serious and/or lethal, causing lesions in lung tissues and obstruction of the trachea that can result in interstitial subacute pneumonia with congestion (Grego et al., 2004).
The great majority of published work on pentastomid parasitism concerns reports of their occurrence or taxonomic revisions.Infection levels (prevalence and average intensity of infections) have been speci¿ ed in only three articles: Grego et al. (2004)  Our study sought to investigate lung endoparasites and their infection levels among snakes encountered in northeastern Brazil.
The ophidians examined were housed at the Serpentarium of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Brazil.All of the snakes were collected within the Atlantic Coastal Forest biome, in the municipality of Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil.
All of the animals died after seven months in captivity and were subsequently ¿ xed in 10% formaldehyde, preserved in 70% alcohol and deposited in the Herpetology Collection of the Zoology Department -UFPE.
The respiratory tracts of the snakes were removed and examined for pentastomids using a stereomicroscope.The pentastomids found were cleared in Hoyer's medium, temporarily slide-mounted, preserved in ethanol 70%, and subsequently housed in the Zoological Collection of the Universidade Regional do Cariri (LZ-URCA).Pentastomid identi¿ cation was based on the dimensions of the hooks (AD -overall length; CE -the distance between the extreme tip of the apodeme on the hook base and the dorsal surface of the hook), annulus number, and body length (Sambon, 1922;Rego, 1981aRego, , 1984Rego, and 1987;;Riley, 1981).Photographs were taken with a digital camera connected to a stereomicroscope.A total of eight snakes were examined, including six specimens of Boa constrictor (average length 77 ± 26.34cm) and two specimens of Lachesis muta (average length 119 ± 60.81cm).Only one specimen of B. constrictor demonstrated lung infection by Porocehalus sp.(intensity of infection 5.0) (Figure 1) and one specimen of L. muta was infected by P. stilesi (intensity of infection 15.0) (Figure 2A and 2B).All of the porocephalids appeared to be adult forms, as the uteri of the females were completely ¿ lled with eggs and the males demonstrated adult morphological characteristics.

FIGURE 1 :
FIGURE 1: Detail of the cephalothorax of a male Porocephalus sp. from lung of Boa constrictor (scale bar = 2mm).
reporting infections by Porocephalus sp. in Bothrops jararaca, and Almeida et al. (2006 and 2007) reporting infections of C. tetrapoda and R. furcocerca in Philodryas nattereri and C. tetrapoda in Liophis lineatus, and the parasitism of Micrurus ibiboboca by Raillietiella sp.