Parasitic and Commensal Epibionts of the Chaco Side-Necked Turtle (Acanthochelys pallidipectoris) and the Scorpion Mud Turtle (Kinosternon scorpioides scorpioides) in Argentina

Abstract

This study describes the algal coverage and commensal and parasitic epibionts in two species of freshwater turtles from the Chaco Ecoregion, Argentina, Acanthochelys pallidipectoris and Kinosternon scorpioides scorpioides. The leech family Glossiphoniidae (Haementeria and Helobdella) were the dominant animal epibionts for both species, constituting the first records of leech infestation for the species A. pallidipectoris and subspecies K. s. scorpioides (second record for the species). The tick Amblyomma argentinae was found attached to several A. pallidipectoris individuals—the second record for this host and a new geographic report for the province of Salta. Most turtles of both species presented a variable degree of algal coverage on the dorsum of the carapace. We analyzed how the type, prevalence and abundance of the epibionts found are a product of their distribution area and lifestyle, frequency of terrestrial excursions, and basking mode (documenting for the first time aerial basking for A. pallidipectoris) of the species studied herein.