Abstract:

Body size reflects age/maturity in animals and indicates the parasite exposure window of organisms. Larger sized animals tend to harbour higher parasite burden than smaller hosts. Here, we examined correlations of body weight (BW) and snout-vent-length (SVL) of Agama agama to host parasite burden. 151 host specimens were captured using a baited net enclosure in May, 2019, from Ogoloma Ama (n=92) and Oba Ama (n=59) communities in Okrika, Rivers State, Nigeria. They were euthanized in benzocaine, measured and dissected within 24 hours of capture. Parasites recovered were enumerated and fixed in appropriate fixatives; the number of parasites recovered per infected host was recorded as the parasite burden. Pearson correlation was used to test for association between parasite burden of hosts and their body weight and snout-vent length. Mean body weight of hosts was 32.0±15.6g and 30.0±28.8g for specimens from Ogoloma Ama and Oba Ama, respectively, whereas the mean SVL values were 22.6±2.2cm and 21.1±9.4cm, for specimens from Ogoloma Ama and Oba Ama, respectively. A total of 2, 446 parasites were collected. When all hosts were pooled irrespective of gender or location, significant positive correlations were obtained: r = 0.513 for parasite burden and body weight, and r = 0.428 for parasite burden and SVL (p<0.0001). Sample size affected the correlation results as insignificant values were obtained when the test was done by location or gender. We, therefore, conclude that parasite burden in Agama agama was positively correlated with host body size, and significant values were obtained with larger sample size.