Helminth parasites of Natal long-fingered bats, Miniopterus natalensis (Chiroptera : Miniopteridae), in South Africa
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Date
Authors
Junker, Kerstin
Bain, Odile
Boomker, Jacob Diederik Frederik
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Agricultural Research Council, ARC-OVI and the University of Pretoria
Abstract
The helminth community infecting Miniopterus natalensis was studied at two localities, the De Hoop Nature Reserve (DHNR) (n = 57), Western Cape Province and Pretoria (n = 12), Gauteng Province, South Africa. Hosts from the DHNR had formed part of an earlier, unrelated study and were all pregnant females. A single hymenolepidid cestode species, the nematodes Molinostrongylus ornatus and Litomosa chiropterorum together with nematodes of the subfamily Capillariinae were present at both study sites, while a single digenean, Allassogonoporus sp., was only found in hosts from the DHNR. The prevalence of helminth infections was high at both localities, 68.4 % in the DHNR and 77.7 % in Pretoria, whereas the mean intensity of infection was low at the DHNR (3.76 ± 3.15), but higher in Pretoria (10.4 ± 9.9). Molinostrongylus ornatus and, to a lesser extent L. chiropterorum, were the main contributors to the higher intensities in Pretoria. The species richness ranged from 0 to 4 at both localities.
Description
Keywords
Cestoda, Chiroptera, Digenea, Nematoda
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Junker, K, Bain, O & Boomker, J 2008, ‘Helminth parasites of Natal long-fingered bats, Miniopterus natalensis (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae), in South Africa’, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, vol. 75, no. 3, pp. 261–265. [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_opvet.html]