Análises de hemoparasitas e parâmetros hematológicos de quatro espécies de tartarugas (Testudines: Podocnemididae) da Amazônia Brasileira

Abstract

In chelonians, the most reported blood parasites are from the phylum Apicomplexa belonging to the families Dactylosomatidae, Hepatozoidae and Haemogregarinidae. Despite recent studies involving blood parasites of aquatic chelonians, the possible relationships between hematological patterns of hosts and intensity of infection by hemoparasites are poorly studied. The present study aimed to investigate the intensities of infection by hemogregarines in freshwater turtles of the genus Podocnemis and their possible relationships with hematological parameters, as well as to carry out a morphometric and similarity study on the blood parasites found Sampling took place at the mouth of the Tapajós River, blood aliquots were collected from the specimens by puncturing the dorsal post-occipital vein, and the blood aliquots were used to determine hematological parameters and parasitic analysis of blood samples. Thirty-seven specimens of turtles were sampled, twenty-one Podocnemis expansa, three P. sextuberculata, nine P. unifilis and four P. erythrocephala. Parasitological analyzes revealed inclusions in the erythrocytes of Haemogregarina spp., representing an overall prevalence of parasitized animals of 64.8% with an average of 94,789 parasites/ml of blood. The study identified trophozoites, pre-meronts, meronts, mature and immature gamonts of Haemogregarina spp. in three species of Amazonian aquatic turtles, a morphotype with high similarity to H. podocnemis was observed. Despite recent studies with freshwater turtles, this study describes unprecedented information regarding the intensity of infection by blood parasites and hematological parameters in free-living animals, demonstrating the need for studies with infected and non-infected animals from the same population.