Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid lizard species, Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from the Republic of Vanuatu, Oceania

Abstract

Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid species, Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus, from the Vanuatu Archipelago were examined. Both helminth communities were depauperate: N. multicarinatus harboured one species of Digenea, Mesocoelium monas, one species of Cestoda, Oochoristica javaensis, four species of Nematoda, Hedruris hanleyae, Parapharyngodon maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts), Filarioidea gen. sp. (juvenile); N. pelagicus harboured one species of Cestoda, O. javaensis, four species of Nematoda, H. hanleyae, Falcaustra tannaensis, P. maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts). In each helminth community P. maplestoni represented a core species and H. hanleyae was a secondary species. It is postulated that the helminth fauna infecting lizards of the Vanuatu Archipelago originated in Australia and Papua New Guinea and reached the archipelago by rafting; their establishment in Vanuatu was fortuitous.

Keywords:

• Nactus multicarinatus
• Nactus pelagicus
• helminths
• Vanuatu
• Oceania

Acknowledgements

We thank Mr Ernest Bani and Ms Donna Kalfatak of the Environment Unit of the Republic of Vanuatu for permits to conduct research on the reptiles of Vanuatu and for export permits for tissues and voucher specimens, numerous chiefs and villagers for assistance throughout Vanuatu, and E. Klein, F. Hartfield, K. Blaha, M. Eckstut and K. Grazyck for assistance with fieldwork in Vanuatu. Funding for this project was provided to A.M.H. and C.C.A. by the National Science Foundation (DEB 0408010, DEB 0445213 and DBI 04009797), Graduate Women in Science, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Research was conducted under LSU IACUC Protocol #03-121. We also thank Peggy Firth for the map of Vanuatu (Figure 1) and Sarah Goldsberry and Tenzing Doleck (Whittier College) for assistance with dissections.