Hemoparasites Do Not Affect Life-History Traits and Cellular Immune Response in Treefrog Hosts <i>Boana cordobae</i>

We provide the first evidence for hemoparasites in the endemic Cordoba treefrog <i>Boana cordobae</i>. We collected 37 adult frogs at 1200 m a.s.l. in the Comechingones Mountains in the Córdoba province (Argentina). Each individual was sexed, then snout–vent length and body mass were rec...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Favio Pollo, Zulma Salinas, Mariana Baraquet, Manuel A. Otero, Pablo R. Grenat, Nancy Salas, Adolfo L. Martino, Ulrich Sinsch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-11-01
Series:Animals
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/22/3566
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Summary:We provide the first evidence for hemoparasites in the endemic Cordoba treefrog <i>Boana cordobae</i>. We collected 37 adult frogs at 1200 m a.s.l. in the Comechingones Mountains in the Córdoba province (Argentina). Each individual was sexed, then snout–vent length and body mass were recorded, a toe was collected for skeletochronological age determination, and a slide with a blood smear was prepared for hemoparasite screening, before releasing the frogs in situ. A total of 81% (n = 30) of the frogs were infected by hemogregarines and trypanosomes with a high intensity of infections. <i>Dactylosoma</i> was found for the first time in Argentina. Hemoparasites had no significant effect on the leukocyte profile, which we assessed from the May–Grünwald–Giemsa-stained blood smears. The neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio, indicative of stress, was insignificantly higher (0.06) in parasitized frogs than in parasite-free individuals (0.04). Infected frogs were larger than the controls, but this effect vanished when correcting size data for age. Young frogs (first-breeders) dominated the age distribution of parasite-free individuals, suggesting that infection of frogs takes usually place after sexual maturation. Vectors transmitting hemoparasites to <i>B. cordobae</i> remain to be identified. We demonstrate that moderate to high intensities of hemoparasites do not significantly affect the cellular immune response of <i>B. cordobae</i>, or any of the life-history traits studied, nor did they show any external sign of disease.
ISSN:2076-2615