Hindawi Publishing Corporation ISRN Parasitology Volume 2013, Article ID 328794, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2013/328794 Research Article First Report of Trypanosoma sp. in Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus): Morphological and Phylogenetic Relationships Arlei Marcili, Andrea P. da Costa, Herbert S. Soares, Igor C. L. Acosta, Julia T. R. de Lima, Antonio H. H. Minervino, and Solange M. Gennari Faculdade de Medicina Veterin´ aria e Zootecnia, Universidade de S˜ ao Paulo, Avenida Prof. Orlando Marques de Paiva 87, Cidade Universit´ aria, 05508-270 S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Arlei Marcili; amarcili@usp.br Received 5 June 2013; Accepted 17 July 2013 Academic Editors: D. Cone, A. Jabbar, G. Mkoji, and P. Somboon Copyright © 2013 Arlei Marcili et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In Crocodylidae family three trypanosomes species were described, T. grayi in African crocodilian and T. cecili and Trypanosoma sp. in Caimans species from Brazil. T. grayi was transmitted by tsetse fies and the vector of Brazilian caimans trypanosomes is unknown. We characterized frst Brazilian trypanosome isolated in spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) from Mato Grosso State in Brazil. Morphological fndings in epimastigotes forms from axenic culture showed high similarity with Trypanosoma sp. described in Caiman yacare from Brazilian Pantanal. Phylogenetic studies performed with SSU rDNA and gGAPDH (glyceraldehydes-3-phosphato dehydrogenase glycosomal) clustering in T. grayi Clade and together to genotype Cay 01 from Trypanosoma unnamed species isolated in C. yacare. Tis is the frst isolate of Trypanosoma sp. from C. crocodilus and the phylogenetic position with isolates in C. yacare from Pantanal region and demonstrates the low host specifcity of cayman trypanosomes in Brazil. 1. Introduction Te order Crocodylia includes 23 living species and three families are recognized, Crocodylidae, Gavialidae, and Alli- gatoridae [1]. Most species of families Crocodylidae and Gavialidae occur in Africa and Asia. Only Alligatoridae occurs in South America and is composed of six species, Paleosuchus palpebrosus, P. trigonatus, Melanosuchus niger, Caiman yacare, C. latirostris, and C. crocodilus [2]. Te spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) has the widest distribution of the New World crocodilians with geographic range from southern Mexico to Peru and Brazil. Tis geo- graphic variability enabled a segregation of this species into four subspecies [3, 4]. A single subspecies occur in North and Central Brazil, Caiman crocodilus crocodilus [5]. Te crocodilians are host to a wide variety of parasites, like intestinal parasites (nematodes and trematodes) [6–10] and hemoparasites (haemogegarines and trypanosomes) [10– 13]. Te species of genus Trypanosoma are parasites of all vertebrate classes (fsh, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) with life cycles alternating between vertebrates and invertebrates hosts. Most species develop in arthropod vectors, which may belong to diferent orders and families, while fsh, amphibian, and reptiles parasites are transmitted by leeches or insects. Other species are only mechanically transmitted. Tis genus has several stages, present in diferent combinations, in blood and/or tissues in the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts [14–19]. In reptiles are described about 80 species of Trypanosoma parasites, including 42 in lizards, 14 in turtles, 21 in snakes, and 3 in crocodilians. Te species descriptions are based on morphology of blood forms, host, and geographic origin [20]. In Africa, T. grayi has been described in Osteolaemus tetraspis