The study of intestinal parasite communities is an important aspect of conservation biology, disease ecology, and wildlife health. Researchers can use the presence of select micro- and macroparasites as an indicator of host health. Only two studies have sampled intestinal parasites in free-ranging Aotus monkeys despite their wide geographic distribution in Central and South America. We therefore conducted a survey of gastrointestinal parasites using 50 fecal samples from seven free-ranging black-headed night monkey (Aotus nigriceps) groups at three field sites in the Peruvian Amazon. We calculated an index of habitat quality using Gentry transects and compared this with parasite communities. We recovered seven intestinal parasite taxa: Strongyloides sp.; Balantioides sp.; Trypanoxyuris sp.; Entamoeba sp.; and unidentified species of ascarid, strongylid, and trematode. Two of these taxa have previously been described in captive Aotus nigriceps (Balantioides sp. and Strongyloides sp.). Parasite richness ranged from zero to five taxa with a mean of 0.8 parasite taxa (±1.0 SD) per fecal sample. Fifty-six percent of samples had at least one intestinal parasite taxon. We found all seven parasite taxa in the wet season but only Strongyloides sp. and Trypanoxyuris sp. in the dry season. Balantioides sp. was positively associated with both Entamoeba sp. and an unidentified trematode, while Entamoeba sp. was positively associated with the unidentified ascarid (P < 0.05). Extrapolations support the likelihood of recovering additional intestinal parasite taxa with increased sampling effort. Neither group size nor basal area was significantly associated with parasite richness. These results highlight the need for continued surveillance of Aotus parasites both temporally and across heterogeneous landscapes because several of the parasite taxa we found are pathogenic in nonhuman primates and people.

中文翻译：

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秘鲁东南部自由放养的黑头夜猴 Aotus nigriceps 的肠道寄生

肠道寄生虫群落的研究是保护生物学、疾病生态学和野生动物健康的一个重要方面。研究人员可以使用选定的微型和大寄生虫的存在作为宿主健康的指标。尽管自由放养的 Aotus 猴在中美洲和南美洲的地理分布广泛，但只有两项研究对它们的肠道寄生虫进行了采样。因此，我们使用来自秘鲁亚马逊三个野外地点的七个自由放养的黑头夜猴（Aotus nigriceps）群体的 50 个粪便样本对胃肠道寄生虫进行了调查。我们使用 Gentry 横断面计算了栖息地质量指数，并将其与寄生虫群落进行了比较。我们回收了七个肠道寄生虫类群：类圆线虫；Balantioides sp.; 锥虫属；内阿米巴菌；和不明种类的蛔虫，线虫和吸虫。其中两个分类群先前已在圈养的 Aotus nigriceps（Balantioides sp. 和 Strongyloides sp.）中描述过。寄生虫丰富度从 0 到 5 个分类群不等，每个粪便样本平均有 0.8 个寄生虫分类群 (±1.0 SD)。56% 的样本至少含有一种肠道寄生虫分类群。我们在雨季发现了所有七种寄生虫分类群，但只有类圆线虫。和锥虫属。在旱季。Balantioides sp. 与内阿米巴菌均呈正相关。和一种身份不明的吸虫，而内阿米巴属。与未鉴定的蛔虫呈正相关（P < 0.05）。外推支持通过增加采样工作恢复额外肠道寄生虫类群的可能性。群体大小和基础面积都与寄生虫丰富度没有显着相关性。