Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Zoology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/zool Do ectoparasites affect survival of three species of lizards of the genus Sceloporus? Víctor Argaez a , Israel Solano-Zavaleta b , J. Jaime Zúñiga-Vega b, * a Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Ciudad de México, Mexico b Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Ciudad de México, Mexico ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Ectoparasites Capture-mark-recapture Demography Sceloporus lizards Tolerance to ectoparasites ABSTRACT The short-term effects that ectoparasites cause to their hosts, such as local wounds and secondary infections that occur within a few hours or days after infection, are well documented in a wide variety of taxa, whereas long- term negative effects on the fitness of hosts, which result from chronic infections and are evident after several months, are less understood. Lizards are hosts of distinct species of mites and ticks that cause short-term negative effects such as ulcers, sores and local inflammation. However, the negative effects that these ectoparasites may have on the long-term survival of lizards have not been evaluated. In this study, we collected two years of capture-mark-recapture data and implemented a multi-model inference framework to examine if high ecto- parasite loads have negative effects on the long-term survival probability of three lizard species of the genus Sceloporus (S. grammicus, S. megalepidurus, and S. torquatus). In addition, we considered that the potential ne- gative effect of ectoparasites on survival may vary depending on sex, body condition, reproductive season, or climatic season. Contrary to our expectations, our results did not support the hypothesis that high ectoparasite loads reduce the survival probability of these lizards. In S. grammicus and S. megalepidurus we found no evidence of an effect of ectoparasite load on host survival. In S. torquatus ectoparasites influenced survival probability, but the effect was opposite to what we predicted: survival increased substantially as ectoparasite load increased. This unexpected result might be explained by mites discriminating between hosts and attaching more frequently to lizards in better health status, or by high-quality lizards having greater chances of contracting ectoparasites, because these individuals move around large areas and frequently engage in social interactions. 1. Introduction Parasitism is an ecological interaction that may have severe con- sequences on the fitness of hosts (Fitze et al., 2004; Fredensborg and Poulin, 2006). A group of parasites that has been the focus of physio- logical and ecological research is that of ectoparasites (Heukelbach and Feldmeier, 2004; Wall and Shearer, 2008). Different studies have shown the negative effects on hosts caused by lice, mites, ticks, and some groups of annelids and mollusks. Once ectoparasites are anchored in the skin and extract blood and fluids from the host, they cause local lesions such as excoriation, papules, scaling, and inflammation (Goldberg and Holshuh, 1992; Lehmann, 1993). These wounds may be targets of secondary viral or bacterial infections that affect the general health of the host (Wall, 2007). In addition, ectoparasites can be vectors of different pathogens such as protozoa, virus, bacteria, cestodes, and nematodes, all of which cause diseases that may seriously affect the reproductive success and survival of the host (Caudell et al., 2002; Kampen et al., 2004; Holmstad et al., 2008; Marzal et al., 2008). In fact, several studies in different groups of vertebrates have documented that high ectoparasite loads reduce the rate of body growth (Nilsson, 2003), constrain activity and feeding rates (Khokhlova et al., 2002), affect the immune response (Saino et al., 1998) and reproductive success of hosts (Hillegass et al., 2010). Most of these studies have focused on the effects caused by ectoparasites in the short term (within a few hours or days after infection), whereas few studies have evaluated the impact of ec- toparasites on the long-term (monthly or yearly) survival probability of the hosts (Brown et al., 1995; Kollars and Ladine, 1999; Brown and Brown, 2004). Lizards are often attacked by mites and ticks that attach mainly to the tympanic membrane and mite pockets of the neck (Dunlap and Mathies, 1993), although they can also be found all throughout the body. Previous studies on lizards have shown the negative effects that https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2019.125723 Received 10 June 2019; Received in revised form 25 September 2019; Accepted 27 October 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: argaezve@gmail.com (V. Argaez), crotalus.viper@gmail.com (I. Solano-Zavaleta), jzuniga@ciencias.unam.mx (J.J. Zúñiga-Vega). Zoology 138 (2020) 125723 Available online 01 November 2019 0944-2006/ © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. T