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Redescription, molecular characterisation and taxonomic re-evaluation of a unique African monitor lizard haemogregarine Karyolysus paradoxa (Dias, 1954) n. comb. (Karyolysidae)

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, June 2016
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Title
Redescription, molecular characterisation and taxonomic re-evaluation of a unique African monitor lizard haemogregarine Karyolysus paradoxa (Dias, 1954) n. comb. (Karyolysidae)
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, June 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13071-016-1600-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Courtney A. Cook, Edward C. Netherlands, Nico J. Smit

Abstract

Within the African monitor lizard family Varanidae, two haemogregarine genera have been reported. These comprise five species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 and a species of Haemogregarina Danilewsky, 1885. Even though other haemogregarine genera such as Hemolivia Petit, Landau, Baccam & Lainson, 1990 and Karyolysus Labbé, 1894 have been reported parasitising other lizard families, these have not been found infecting the Varanidae. The genus Karyolysus has to date been formally described and named only from lizards of the family Lacertidae and to the authors' knowledge, this includes only nine species. Molecular characterisation using fragments of the 18S gene has only recently been completed for but two of these species. To date, three Hepatozoon species are known from southern African varanids, one of these Hepatozoon paradoxa (Dias, 1954) shares morphological characteristics alike to species of the family Karyolysidae. Thus, this study aimed to morphologically redescribe and characterise H. paradoxa molecularly, so as to determine its taxonomic placement. Specimens of Varanus albigularis albigularis Daudin, 1802 (Rock monitor) and Varanus niloticus (Linnaeus in Hasselquist, 1762) (Nile monitor) were collected from the Ndumo Game Reserve, South Africa. Upon capture animals were examined for haematophagous arthropods. Blood was collected, thin blood smears prepared, stained with Giemsa, screened and micrographs of parasites captured. Haemogregarine morphometric data were compared with the data for named haemogregarines of African varanids. Primer set HepF300 and HepR900 was employed to target a fragment of the 18S rRNA gene and resulting sequences compared with other known haemogregarine sequences selected from the GenBank database. Hepatozoon paradoxa was identified infecting two out of eight (25 %) V. a. albigularis and a single (100 %) V. niloticus examined. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that H. paradoxa clustered with the 'Karyolysus' clade, and not with those of reptilian Hepatozoon spp. In addition to this being the first morphological and molecular characterisation of a haemogregarine within the African Varanidae, it is the first report of a species of Karyolysus infecting the monitor lizard family. Furthermore, this constitutes now only the third described and named Karyolysus species for which there is a nucleotide sequence available.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 42 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Portugal 1 2%
Unknown 41 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 7 17%
Student > Master 7 17%
Student > Bachelor 6 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 3 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 2 5%
Other 10 24%
Unknown 7 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 14 33%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 12%
Environmental Science 4 10%
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine 3 7%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 5%
Other 6 14%
Unknown 8 19%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 July 2016.
All research outputs
#13,473,953
of 22,877,793 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#2,460
of 5,474 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#173,739
of 326,206 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#79
of 171 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,877,793 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,474 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 326,206 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 45th percentile – i.e., 45% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 171 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its contemporaries.