Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid lizard species,Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from the Republic of Vanuatu,Oceania

Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid species, Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus, from the Vanuatu Archipelago were examined. Both helminth communities were depauperate: N. multicarinatus harboured one species of Digenea, Mesocoelium monas, one species of Cestoda, Oochoristica javaensis, four species of Nematoda, Hedruris hanleyae, Parapharyngodon maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts), Filarioidea gen. sp. (juvenile); N. pelagicus harboured one species of Cestoda, O. javaensis, four species of Nematoda, H. hanleyae, Falcaustra tannaensis, P. maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts). In each helminth community P. maplestoni represented a core species and H. hanleyae was a secondary species. It is postulated that the helminth fauna infecting lizards of the Vanuatu Archipelago originated in Australia and Papua New Guinea and reached the archipelago by rafting; their establishment in Vanuatu was fortuitous.