Intestinal helminths of the endemic Italian hare, Lepus corsicanus (De Winton, 1898), in Sicily (Italy)

Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy

article

Fabio Macchioni¹  Giorgia Romeo²  Valter Trocchi³  Federica Usai⁴  Francesca Cecchi¹  Gianfranca Monni¹  Laura Stancampiano⁵ 

[1] Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa;Office for Hunting and Fishing Activities of Grosseto Regional Administration;Italian Hunting Federation;Biologist;Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna

关键词: intestinal parasites;    Sicily;    Lepus corsicanus;    Trichostrongylus retortaeformis;    Anoplocephalidae;   

DOI  :  10.4404/hystrix-00507-2021

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Associazione Teriologica Italiana

【 摘 要 】

The Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus De Winton, 1898) is endemic to central and southern Italy, where it lives in sympatry with Lepus europaeus in the mainland, while in Sicily L. europaeus is absent. The only report of endoparasites in L. corsicanus in Italy dates back to 2012. After a period of protection, the population density of the Italian hare in Sicily increased. This enabled new parasitological data to be collected on 27 hares which were compared with the data collected on 15 Sicilian hares from a previous study. Trichostrongylus retortaeformis, Paranoplocephala sp. and Cittotaenia (Mosgovoyia) sp. were isolated from the intestine. T. retortaeformis was the most prevalent and abundant parasite. Its abundance was significantly higher in males than in females. No age differences emerged. T. retortaeformis abundance was not related to low body mass and was significantly higher than that calculated from the data of the previous survey. At the same time aggregation, known as a regulatory factor of host-parasite relationship, was also higher in the present study. The possible biases introduced by sampling with different methods prevent any definitive conclusions. However, the relationship between L. corsicanus and its intestinal parasite biocoenosis appears to be stable and has possibly improved, in line with the improved status of the host population.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC