Occurrence of Trichodina heterodentata (Ciliophora: Trichodinidae) infesting tadpoles of Rhinella pombali (Anura: Bufonidae) in the Neotropical area.

Data on trichodinid ciliophorans in Brazil are scarce and generally do not use the modern silver-impregnation technique, which is essential to the taxonomy of the group. The present study reports not only on the first occurrence of Trichodina heterodentata in Brazil but also on the first record of this trichodinid infesting tadpoles of the species Rhinella pombali. This study also constitutes a second report on T. heterodentata from tadpoles. In September 2007, tadpoles were collected from a stream in a small farm in the agricultural area of the city of Juiz de Fora, southeastern Brazil. The ciliophorans found on the tadpoles' bodies and tails were submitted to techniques such as silver impregnation and scanning electron microscopy. Our biometric data of T. heterodentata population infesting Rhinella pombali were compared to five other South-African populations of T. heterodentata infesting tadpoles of Xenopus laevis laevis. Results were discussed in terms of low host specificity as well as the wide geographical distribution of this trichodinid.