Diversity of nematode parasites of giganteus from 'Leonardo da Vinci' cave from Vitória do Xingu, Pará

Ana Paula Mota de Lima, Bianca Nandyara Lopes Leite, Allan Rodrigo de Oliveira Rodrigues, Roberta Melo Valente, Gustavo Ruiz, Jeannie Nascimento dos Santos, Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos Melo

Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Helmintologia – Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas – Universidade Federal do Pará Laboratório de Zoologia de Invertebrados - Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas – Universidade Federal do Pará

The genus Blaberus Serville, 1831 comprises approximately 30 species of , including the species B. giganteus Linnaeus, 1758; Found in tropical regions of Central and South America, where they are known as giant due to their length. These belong the family , are omnivorous, inhabit places with high humidity and low light incidence like caves, treetops and cracks in the rocks. Helmintological studies using as host the species Blaberus giganteus are scarce, with only some using other species of cockroaches, but none of them in . Based on these premises, the objective of the present paper was to identify intestinal parasitic nematodes of Blaberus giganteus from Leonardo da Vinci 'cave in the municipality of Vitória do Xingu, Pará. During an expedition, samples of Blaberus giganteus were collected manually for invertebrate collections in the 'Leonardo da Vinci' cave of the municipality of Vitória do Xingu, Pará, in the year 2016, which were fixed in 70% and transported to the Laboratory of Invertebrate Zoology. Of these, three specimens were dissected and the helminths found were used in the research. For the morphological and morphometric analysis, the nematodes were clarified in Aman's Lactophenol, mounted on temporary slides and analyzed in Olympus BX 53 Microscope with image capture system. All specimens of B. Giganteus analyzed were parasitized, helminths found presented characteristics of the Oxyurida order, superfamily Thelastomatoidea, and Thelastomathidae family, according to its characteristics, such as an esophagus with a posterior bulb, without the presence of a pre-anal sucker or pseudoventosa, and the male having a single or absent spicule. Females of nematodes representing the genus Aoruroides Travassos & Kloss, 1958 were also found; showing buccal capsule absent, esophagus with piriform corpus and fine and long isthmus, sharp tail and equatorial vulva. It was also possible to identify females of the genus Buzionema Kloss, 1966, which have three lips surrounding the mouth opening, esophagus with distended corpus, post-equatorial vulva with prominent lips, long and sharp tail; additionally female nematode of the genus Hammerschimidtiella (Hammerschmidt, 1838) Chitwood, 1932, anterior end with buccal capsule, esophagus with later distended corpus, similar to a bulb and terminal bulb. It was also possible to find nematodes of a different morphotype, not yet idetified. Up to this moment, three genera of namatodes could be identified parasitizing B. giganteus, that may represent only a part of the parasites diversity of the species and due to a lack of studies on helminths of this hosts species can also represent new species. However, for the formal description of the species, additional morphological and molecular studies will be required. Key-words: nematodes, Blableridae nematodes, oxyurida