Publications by authors named "M D'Agosto"

The current study proposes to investigate the diversity and phylogeny of trypanosomes parasitizing wild birds from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Cytological examination was carried out by light microscopy of blood smears and positive birds were selected for amplification of the 18S rDNA sequence through PCR. The resulting amplicons were subjected to purification, cloning, and sequencing analysis.

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High infestations of epibiont ciliates on vertebrates or invertebrates are normally related to aquaculture tanks or similar environments, and the importance of this relationship in natural habitats is often disregarded. Here, we describe the first record of high infestation of ciliates on Aegla serrana in South America and conduct a brief morphological and phylogenetic characterization of these ciliates. Our findings confirm that cases of high infestation of ciliates on metazoans can indeed occur in natural environments.

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The Haemosporida order is a well-supported clade of heteroxenous parasites transmitted by dipteran insects and frequently found parasitizing wild birds. These parasites have already been reported in all zoogeographic regions of the world, except for Antarctica. One of the potential hosts of haemosporidians is the Cracidae family, which includes approximately 50 species, 22 of which are present in Brazil, classified within nine genera.

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The family Ophryoscolecidae currently comprises 225 species of trichostomatid ciliates, subdivided into three subfamilies (Entodiniinae, Diplodiniinae, and Ophryoscolecinae). The last taxonomic review of the family was performed 55 years ago, but recent morphological and molecular studies indicate the need for a profound review of the systematics of this taxon, since its current taxonomy is insufficient to organize the diversity of the group. Here, we briefly review the systematics of the family Ophryoscolecidae based on information recovered from the literature and new morphological and molecular data.

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The family Cycloposthiidae (Entodiniomorphida) comprises ciliated protists that are symbionts of the gastrointestinal tract of several herbivore mammals, such as rodents, elephants, equids, primates, hippopotamus, marsupials, rhinoceros and tapir, where they contribute to the digestion of their host's plant-based diet. Despite the significance of these ciliates to the evolution of their hosts, many characters used in the taxonomy of the group are homoplastic and most of the valid species do not have molecular data available. For these reasons the systematics of this family is poorly understood.

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