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Lizard Malaria in Georgia *
Author(s) -
JORDAN HELEN B.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1964.tb01799.x
Subject(s) - anolis , ecology , swamp , lizard , iguanidae , biology , geography , sauria
SYNOPSIS. South of latitude 32°, where adequate samples were taken, both Sceloporus undulatus and Anolis carolinensis were infected with Plasmodium fioridense Thompson and Huff, but with varying frequency. Data resulting from general surveys made in two coastal islands, Jekyll and Sapelo, and from 11 counties in south and southwest Georgia showed 62 of 1,325 or 4.7% of Sceloporus and 106 of 846 or 13% of Anolis to be positive for P. fioridense. The Fargo‐Okefenokee Swamp Area, including Echols and Clinch Counties, was designated as a special study area during the period of 1959–1963, during which time monthly collections of lizards and mosquitoes were made for transmission experiments. In this area, 104 of 2,232 or 4.7% of Sceloporus and 510 of 1,502 or 34% of Anolis were positive for P. fioridense. During the first 3 years (1959–1961), the rate of infection in Anolis was about 46% as compared to 6% in Sceloporus from the same area during the same period. In 1962 the frequency of occurrence in Anolis dropped to 24% (85 of 358) and in Sceloporus to 3.3% (15 of 448). In 1963 there was a further drop to 17% in Anolis (60 of 353) and to 2% in Sceloporus (11 of 514). Thus the incidence was from 3 to 10 times higher in Anolis than in Sceloporus in this area. There is a marked increase in new infections in Anolis during late summer and fall indicating a period of parasite transmission. Local mosquitoes, Aëdes atlanticus‐tormentor, A. triseriatus, Psorophora confinnis, P. ferox and Mansonia perturbans , fed on infected lizards and kept at 25–30°C, were all negative. One of 80 Aëdes aegypti showed 1 oocyst and negative salivary glands. Four of 70 Culex territans had 23, 1, 16 and 2 oocysts, but negative glands 31 days following an infective blood meal from Sceloporus. Culex quinquefasciatus (225 dissected) had 2 infections of 1 and 3 oöcysts and negative glands. One of 3 Culex sp. had 70 oocysts and negative glands. No transmission experiments were successful. Under the conditions of testing, when Anolis and Sceloporus were exposed to mosquitoes at the same time, mosquitoes preferred to teed on Sceloporus.