ENDOPARASITES IN THE THREE-BANDED LARUT SKINK, LARUTIA TRIFASCIATA (SQUAMATA: SCINCIDAE) FROM PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Larutia trifasciata (Tweedie, 1940) is known from Gunung Tahan, Cameron Highlands and Fraser's Hill, Pahng State, Peninsular Malaysia (Grismer 2011). To our knowledge, the only published report of helminths from L. trifasciata is the report of the nematode Orneoascaris sandoshami by Goldberg et al. (2015). In this note we add to the helminth list of L. trifasciata.

We examined a sample of seven L. trifasciata (Fig. 1) (mean SVL = 129.4 mm ± 22.3 SD, range = 95–153 mm), collected at Cameron Highlands, (4.03333°N, 101.36666°E), Pahang State, Peninsular Malaysia in June 2008. They were deposited in the herpetology collection of La Sierra University (LSUHC), Riverside, California, USA as LSUHC 9077–9080, 9101–9103.

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A lateral incision was made through the body wall and the digestive tract was removed, opened and the contents were examined for helminths utilizing a dissecting microscope. Parasite terminology is in accordance with Bush et al. (1997). Fifteen nematodes were found. They were each cleared in a drop of lactophenol on a microscope slide, coverslipped, studied using a compound microscope and identified as eight Aplectana macintoshii in the large intestine of LSUHC 9077 (prevalence: number infected/number examined × 100) =14% and seven Cosmocerca ornata (two in small intestine, one in large intestine of LSUHC 9079), one in small intestine of LSUHC 9080, one in large intestine of LSUHC 9102, two in large intestine of LSUHC 9103. For C. ornata, prevalence was 57%, mean intensity (mean number nematodes) was 1.8 ± 0.96, range = 1–3.

Identification of A. macintoshii was made by comparison with drawings in Baker (1980). Aplectana macintoshii is widespread in amphibians and reptiles from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and has also been reported from Paraguay, South America (McAllister et al. 2010). Identification of C. ornata was made from information in Anderson et al. (2009) and Bala (2016). Cosmocerca ornata is widespread in Europe (Baker 1987) and Africa (Aisien et al. 2003). A host list for C. ornata is in Yildirimhan et al. (2009). Helminths were deposited in the Harold W. Manter Parasitology Laboratory (HWML), University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA as Aplectana macintoshii (HWML 110083), Cosmocerca ornata (HWML 110084). Aplectana macintoshii and C. ornata in L. trifasciata are new host records.