Prevalence and intensity of blood parasites infections in Legless Lizards, Pseudopus apodus from Iran

Parasites are known as a very diverse groups of living organism, playing a vital role in ecosystems. Haemogregarines are a large group of obligate intracellular single-celled parasites that are found in invertebrates and vertebrates animals. They can infect a wide range of animals from fishes to mammals. In the present study, Haemogregarines blood parasite was investigated in Legless Lizards, Pseudopus apodus from north of Iran. Blood smears of caudal venous were collected and prepared by fixation with methanol and stained with Giemsa in ۱۵ minutes. After the morphological examination of the prepared smears by light microscope, the presence of haemogregarines blood parasites was confirmed. ۱۴.۲% of lizards were infected by these haemoparasites. The mean intensity of haemoparasites was ۰.۰۸۴% in each infected individual. Molecular study alongside with more specimens are needed for identifying all haemogregarines parasites in these lizards

کلیدواژه ها:

Haemogregarine ، vertebrate ، morphological ، molecular