OOCHORISTICA AGAMAE BAYLIS, 1919 (EUCESTODA, LINSTOWIIDAE) IN ONE REPTILE AND TWO BAT SPECIES FROM NSUKKA (ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA)

F.C. OKAFOR

Okafor, F.C., 1988. Oochoristica agamae Baylis, 1919 (Eucestoda, Linstowiidae) in one reptile and two bat species from Nsukka (Anambra State, Nigeria). Misc. Zool., 12: 11-15.

Oochoristica agamae Baylis, 1919 (Eucestoda, Linstowiidae) in one reptile and two batspecies from Nsukka (Anambra State, Nigeria).- The same cestode parasite was recovered from the small intes- tines of different insectivorous hosts: a lizard Agama agama, two bats Tadarida chaeraphon nigeriae (Thomas, 1913) and Hipposideros caffer tephrus (Cabrera, 1906) at Nsukka. Various measure- ments and observations on gross anatomy (eg. number and arrangement of the ovary, dimensions of the cirrus sac, etc.) show that al1 specimens of the parasites belong to the same species. The dif- ferent hosts feed on a common intermediate host in the same environment which may account for this phenomenon. The prevalence of the worms and the intensity of infection in the three hosts are also presented. There is a significantly high prevalence in the males, but no explanation for this trend is given.

Key words: Oochoristica agamae, Eucestoda, Parasite, Nigeria.

(Rebuc 22 189)

F.C. Okafor, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Nigeria, P.O. Box3097, Nsukka, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION ture of their segmentation. The comparison of number of testes and their distribution in The finding of a parasite species within hosts species of Oochoristica from mammals, indi- of different taxonomic status, in an ecosys- cate that most of them are closelv related to tem, is not a common phenomenon. In the one another, but differ from those parasi- cestodes, such a situation might arise through tizing reptiles. Furthermore most species recruitment of some stages of the life cycle by from reptilian hosts have acraspedote pro- an unusual intermediate host (JAROLL,1980). glottideS whereas those of mammals have Such developments complicate the transmis- craspedote proglottides. sion dynamics of the parasitic infections. Oochoristica antrozoi Voge, 1954, a para- Oochoristica Luhe, 1898 has been isolated site of mammals, was reported from reptiles from various animals. At least about 45 in South America (FLORES-BARROETAet al., species have been reported from different 1958). In this report, Oochoristica agamae types of lizards alone and DELLA-SANTA Baylis, 1919 (Syn. O. africana Malan, 1939), (1956) recognized 18 species from mammals. a parasite of reptiles is recovered from two The number of these have since increased. species of insectivorous bats while studying SPASSKII(1951) and YAMAGUTI(1959) divi- the helminth parasites of the bats. The simila- ded the parasite into numerous genera de- rity in the gross features of this cestode and pending upon the systematic position of the those commonly foud in lizards prompted host (whether they were reptiles or this study. A description of the parasites is mammals) and to some extent upon the na- presented. MATERIALS AND METHODS posterior to the cirrus sac. The ovary is lobed, median and slightly poral. The lobes are join- A total of 110 lizards Agama agama and 148 ed by an Isthmus. Vitellaria is median and Tadarida nigeriae and 53 Hipposideros post ovarian. Uterus forms uterine capsules tephrus bats were collected between Decem- each containing a single egg. The vas deferens ber 1986 and June 1987, in the town of is looped. The testes are numerous, posterior Nsukka (Anambra State, Nigeria). The li- and lateral to the vitelline gland. Type zards were found on walls of buildings, in species: Oochoristica tuberculata (Rudolphi, bushes and abandoned farmlands and were 1819). It is related structurally to Oochoris- taken by hand. The bats were collected with tica truncata (Krabbe, 1879) Zschokke, 1905. hand nets as they left their roosts in infested houses, in the evening. In the laboratory these animals were put in Oochoristica agamae Baylis, 1919 Oochoristica africana Malan, 1939 ether and at necrospy intestinal parasites O. africana var ookispensis Malan, 1939 were recovered. The parasites were washed Type Hosts: Reptiles especially Agama li- briefly in 0.9% saline solution. Cestodes were zards. relaxed briefly in water and fixed in AFA. Additional Hosts: Tadarida nigeriae Thomas, Whole cestodes were stained in acid carmine 1913; Hipposideros tephrus Cabrera, 1906; and mounted in canada balsam. Scoleces and (both insectivorous bats). proglottides were embedded in paraffin and Locality: Nsukka, Anambra State, Nigeria. serial longitudinal and transverse sections were madi at a thickness of 10 pm. The sec- tions were stained with haematoxylin and Description eosin. The eggs were removed from gravid proglottides and stained with0.10% methyle- These descriptions are based on 10 specimens ne blue. Al1 measurements are in millimeters; from each host species. The values presented L and W used in the text mean length and are the ranges of the recorded parameters. A width. The results of the prevalence survey comparative record of these parameters is were subjected to Chi-square analysis. given in table 1. Apart from these, there are other features that are uniformly present in these parasites such as that the young proglot- RESULTS tides are distended transversely, width exceed- ing the length several times. At the initial or Generic Diagnosis near the neck region, only interna1 segmenta- tion is noticed while the more posterior seg- Oochoristica Luhe, 1898 (after SPASSKI, ments have the segmentation on the outside. 1951) The length of mature proglottides is greater than its width while the gravid ones are sev- Anoplocephalidea: Linstowiidae (WARDLE eral times longer than the young proglottides. et al., 1974). The scolex has four suckers (ace- Transverse folds are commonly found on the tabula) and there are no hooks. The proglot- segments. The genital aperture alternates tides vary in size. They are acraspedote. The irregularly and is located at the anterior Vi of mature and gravid ones are longer than wide. each proglottis. The genital atrium is muscu- There are two pairs of longitudinal excretory lar and oval in dorsoventral view. The cirrus ducts. The ventral pair is with transverse sac extends to the middle of the proglottis and anastomosis which is usually behind the vitel- between the excretory vessels. The cirrus lies line gland. The genital aperture is single and in the lateral part of the sac. The testes are alternates irregularly. The genital ducts are found in the middle of the proglottides and dorsal to the excretory ducts. The vagina is form a semi-circle behind the ovary. They are between 0.04-0.07 mm wide and are subsphe- bundle whereas the outer layer is made up of rica1 in shape. The sperm duct is slightly con- one fibre per bundle. There are also transverse voluted and extends transversally parallel to fibres which are scattered between the inner the vagina. The vagina is a thin tube that lies longitudinal muscle bundles and on either behind the cirrus sac and opens into the pos- sides of the bundles. These features indicate terior ventral side of the atrium. It extends that the worm is O. agamae Baylis, 1919. medially along the posterior face of the cirrus sac. The ovary is bilobed while the vitelline gland is compact and lies below the ovary. Prevalence The uterine capsules fill the whole space in the gravid proglottis. The excretoiy ducts Oochoristica recovered from the bats and consist of two pairs of dorsal and ventral lon- Agama lizards was described as 0. agamae. gitudinal trunks. They are also convoluted. The infection rates in these animals is presen- The dorsal ducts have smaller diameter than ted in table 2. Prevalence of infection in males the ventral ones. There is a complicated was significantly higher than in females (p 2 network of anastomosing branches of the 0.05). ventral pair in the posterior portion of the segment. The diameter also varies with the segments with younger segments being DISCUSSION narrower than older and matured ones. In transverse section, within the scolex, Reports on Oochoristica infections in animals longitudinal muscles form a ring. In the pro- of different taxonomic groups abound in the glottides these muscles appear in bundles literature, but reports on finding the same comprising three layers. The inner layer species of the parasite in both marnmals and consists of severa1 fibres per bundle; the reptiles are scarce. Oochoristica agamae was middle layer consists of three fibres per described from Agama lizards of East Africa

Table 1. Measurements of some structures of Oochoristica sp. recovered from diferent hosts Medidas de algunas estructuras de Oochoristica sp. aislado de diversos hospedadores.

Hosts Structures Agama Tadarida Hipposideros

Body length Scolex (LxW) Acetabulum (0) Neck (LxW) First Mature Proglottis Mature proglottides (LxW) Gravid proglottides Genital atrium Cirrus sac Testes (No) Ovary (total width) Vitelline gland (width) Eggs (width) Onchosphere Outer envelope Misc. Zool. 12. 1988

Table 2. Distnbution o£ Oochoristica infections. Distribución de las infecciones de Oochoristica.

Number Number % Mean worm count Hosts Examined Infected Infection X (range) Agama agama Males Females

Tadarida nigeriae Males Fernales

Hipposideros tephrus Males Females

by Baylis in 1919 and it differs from other Oo- trum of this parasite. It is known from litera- choristica species of reptiles from that region ture that such multigeneric infections result (e.g. Oochoristica theileri Fuhrmann, 1924; from incidental transmissions from the type O. zonuri Baylis, 1919; Oochoristica sp. hosts to other animals ('FLORES-BARROETA, Maeggitt, 1927) specially in the number of et al., 1958; JARROLL,1980). testes, dimensions of the cirrus sac, etc. The The interinediate hosts of different species parasite is however known to have some of Oochoristica are mainly insects and arach- morphological similarity with Oochoristica nids (STUNKARD,1961,1965; WARDLEet al., ameivae Beddard, 1914, 0. americana Har- 1974, amongst others). Lizards and these bats wood, 1932, 0. eumecis Harwood, 1932 and commonly feed on these animals and within O. anolis Harwood, 1932, al1 parasites of the same range. Therefore, the processes in- North American reptiles. volved in finding this reptilian cestode in the This is the first report of recovery of any bats must have been related to the overlap of Oochoristica species from Agama agama in the feeding ranges of the two animal groups. Nigeria. In insectivorous bats, EDUNGBOLA Further studies should be conducted to know (1979) isolated some Oochoristica sp. The the dynamics of Oochoristica infections in finding of Oochoristica in Tadarida therefore Nsukka as recommended by ESCH (1983). is not new. What is significant, however, is Efforts will be made to identify the interme- that the Oochoristica collected from these diate host of O. agamae in order to explain bats resemble in most details the type found the basis of this finding. in Agama. From the data presented in this re- The lower prevalence of the parasite in the port (table 1) it is obvious that they are similar bats may tend to suggest that these chiropte- in the number and arrangement of the ovary rans serve as reservoir hosts. HOLMESet al. and testes, the shape of the testes, the dimen- (1977), however, observed that regulation sions of the cirrus sac and its position vis-a-vis can occur in a single host of a parasite while the excretory ducts among other features. transmission is maintained in other animal These features show that the collected species which also serve as hosts to the same cestode fit into the description of Oochoristi- parasite. They further suggested that the host ca agamae Baylis, 1919. in which regulation operates may not neces- Finding Oochoristica agamae in insecti- sarily be the one in which the parasite is most vorous bats at Nsukka widens the host spec- abundant. Thus, the finding of O. agamae in the three hosts, suggests that the taxonomic ristica Luhe (Cestodes). Revue suisse de zoolo- status of the parasite should be reinvestigated gie, 63: 1-113. EDUNGBOLA,L.D., 1979. Parasites of house and the host preference reassessed. The dwelling insectivorous bats from Alabe Kwara higher prevalence of the parasite in males can State, Nigena. J. Parasit., 67(2): 287-288. not presently be explained as there are no ESCH,G.W., 1983. The population and community known sex related differences in feeding ecology of cestodes. In: Biology of Eucestoda behaviour in either Agama agama, Tadarida Vol. 1: 81-137 (C. Arme and P.W. Pappas, Eds.). Academic Press. London & N.Y. nigeriae or Hipposideros tephrus. Physiologi- FLORES-BARROETA,L., HIDALGO,E., & BRENES, cal responses to the parasite based on sex may R.R., 1958. Cestodos de vertebrados IV. Revista be investigated for a clue. de biología tropical, 6: 55-78. HOLMES,J.C. HOBBS,R.P. & LEONG,T.S., 1977. Populations in Perspective: Community organi- zation and regulation of parasite populations. RESUMEN In: Regulation of Parasite Populations: 209-245 (G.W., Esch, ed). Academic Press. New York and London. Oochoristica agamae Baylis, 1919 (Eucestoda, Lins- JAROLL,E.L. Jnr., 1980. Population dynamics o£Bo- towiidae) en una especie de reptil y dos de murci&lago thriocephalus rarus (Cestoda) in Notophthalmus de Nsukka (Anambra State, Nigeria). viridescens. Am. Midl. Nat., 103: 360-366. La misma especie de cestodo parásito fue recogida SPASSKII,A.A., 1951. Essentials of Cestodology 1. en diversos huéspedes insectívoros: un lagarto Agama Anoplocephalata. Ed. K.I. Skrjabin. Akademia agama y dos murciélagos Tadarida chaeraphon nige- Nansk. Moscow . riae y Hipposideros caffer tephrus en Nsukka. Medi- STUNKARD,H.W., 1961. Cycloskrjabinia taborensis das y observaciones sobre la anatomía muestran que (Loewen, 1934) a cestode from the red bat La- todos los especímenes parásitos pertenecen a la mis- siurus borealis (Muller, 1876) anda review of the ma especie. Los hospedadores se alimentan, en el Family Anoplocephalidea. J. Parasit., 47: 847- mismo medio, de un común hospedador intermedio, 856. hecho que podría explicar este fenómeno. Se presen- - 1965. Paratriotaenia oedipomatidis gen et sp. n. tan la predominancia y la intensidad de infección en (Cestoda) from a marmoset. J. Parasit., 51: 545- los tres hospedadores. Existe una predominancia de 551. machos. WARDLE,R.A., MCLEOD,J.A. & RADINOVSKY,S., 1974. Advances in the Zoology of tape worms: 1950-1970. University of Minnesota Press. Min- neapolis. REFERENCES YAMAGUTI,S., 1959. Systema Helminthum Vol. 2: Cestodes of Vertebrates. Intersciences Press. DELLA-SANTA,E., 1956. Revision de genre Oocho- N.Y.