Snake Lungworm Alliance & Monitoring

Investigating and Studying Pentastomes

SLAM (Snake Lungworm Alliance and Monitoring) is a collaborative network of researchers, land managers, local government, and citizen scientists working to conduct opportunistic surveillance for the invasive snake lungworm, Raillietiella orientalis,across the southeastern United States. Founded in the spring of 2022, our mission is to assess the presence, prevalence, and intensity of orientalis infection in snake populations, with a focus on understanding the conservation concerns it poses to native herpetofauna. In addition to R. orientalis, we also monitor the prevalence and intensity of native pentastomes and other parasites. To date, we have documented R. orientalis infections in 18 new counties and several novel host species. We have also identified cases of infection in the pet trade, associated with mortality. Given the broad range of potential host species and the presence of R. orientalis in the pet trade, expanding the SLAM network remains imperative to addressing this emerging threat.

Life Cycle of Snake Lungworm

Lifecycle of R.O.

Pentastomes rely on multiple hosts during their life cycles, including intermediate hosts (where larval stages occur) and definitive hosts (where adult stages mature). In North America, native snake pentastomes typically have two-host life cycles. For example, Kiricephalus coarctatus often uses fish as intermediate hosts while Porocephalus crotali infects mammals as intermediate hosts. The snakes that host adult pentastomes of these species are determined by their diet. In contrast, Raillietiella orientalis follows a three-host life cycle, involving both invertebrates and vertebrates.

The life cycle of Raillietiella orientalis in Florida can be broken into three progressive steps:

Eggs are ingested by coprophagous invertebrates, such as cockroaches, when they consume egg-laiden feces. The eggs molt and mature within the fat bodies of the invertebrates.
Small vertebrates, including anurans (toads and frogs), lizards, and potentially small mammals, consume the infected invertebrate. In the second host, the larvae can develop throughout viscera.
The larvae are transferred to their final host when the snake or lizard consumes an infected vertebrate. The larvae bore through the viscera to get to the lung(s) where they molt to the reproductive stages, reproduce, and feed on the blood.