Pterygodermatites (Mesopectines) whartoni (Nematoda: Rictulariidae) encysted larvae in invasive Cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) from Florida, United States

Kelsey Lykins; Robert J Ossiboff; Ellis Chase; Nina Thompson; Terence M Farrell; Timothy Wu; Steve A Johnson; Heather D S Walden

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1353975

Pterygodermatites (Mesopectines) whartoni (Nematoda: Rictulariidae) encysted larvae in invasive Cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) from Florida, United States

Front Vet Sci. 2024 May 10:11:1353975. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1353975. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Kelsey Lykins¹, Robert J Ossiboff¹, Ellis Chase¹, Nina Thompson¹, Terence M Farrell², Timothy Wu³, Steve A Johnson⁴, Heather D S Walden¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
² Department of Biology, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, United States.
³ Department of Population Medicine, Section of Anatomic Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
⁴ Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.

Abstract

Species of Pterygodermatites are spirurid nematodes that have expanded their geographic distribution worldwide. They infect a variety of mammalian definitive hosts with few reports of potential paratenic infections in amphibian and reptile hosts. In this study, we report Pterygodermatites sp. larvae identified in free-ranging, invasive Cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis), from central Florida, United States. Encysted larvae were recovered from the skeletal muscle and/or the coelomic cavity of three frogs; molecular characterization of the small subunit (18S) ribosomal RNA and cytochrome oxidase I genes of the parasites matched reported sequences of Pterygodermatites (Mesopectines) whartoni (Tubangui, 1931). This is a parasite native to Southeastern Asia and to the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first report of the species in the New World. The recovery of invasive Pterygodermatites from invasive Cuban treefrogs in North America highlights the growing concern regarding the potential impact non-native parasites and invasive species may have on native wildlife populations.

Keywords: amphibian host; encysted larvae; helminth; nematode; paratenic.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding for this work was provided by the University of Florida 2021 Quasi Endowment Grant.