A Survey of Dung Beetles Infected with Larval Nematodes with Particular Note on Copris lunaris Beetles as a Vector for Gongylonema sp. in Iran

Gongylonema ingluvicola and Spirocerca lupi are spirurid nematodes that require arthropod intermediate hosts in order to complete their life cycle. Beetles of the family Scarabaeidae are reported to serve as intermediate hosts for both these parasites. In this study selected species of beetles of the family Scarabaeidae as well as other groups of arthropods were screened for susceptibility to infection with S. lupi and G. ingluvicola. Arthropods were exposed to infective eggs of both parasites for a determined period of time and dissected/digested to determine the presence or absence of pre-infective and infective larvae. All the five species of dung beetles exposed to infection with S. lupi, namely, Pachylomerus femoralis, Scarabaeus rugosus, Gymnopleurus humanus, Kheper nigroaeneus and Anachalcos convexus were susceptible and, of the two species exposed to G. ingluvicola, only Gy. humanus was susceptible. Spirocerca lupi eggs developed in millipede species, Daratoagonus cristulatus, and remained as encysted larvae, while in Orthoporoides kyrhocephalus no development was observed. Spirocerca lupi larvae were not detected in the cricket species Gryllus assimilis, or the cockroach species Periplaneta americana, and, similarly, G. ingluvicola larvae were not detected in the millipede species O. kyrhocephalus. The difference in the susceptibility of the arthropods to the two parasite species may depend on their feeding biology.

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“…humanus. This is in agreement with results reported by Mowlavi et al (2009) who found similar Gongylonema sp. larvae in naturally infected Gy.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 95%

“…The genus Gongylonema Molin, 1857 (Order Spirurida, Family Gongylonematidae) has species that affect wild and domestic mammals and birds (Mowlavi et al , 2009). The life cycle is indirect with coprophagous arthropods as intermediate hosts (Anderson, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental infection of selected arthropods with spirurid nematodesSpirocerca lupiRailliet & Henry, 1911 andGongylonema ingluvicolaMolin, 1857

2010

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“…Gongylonema sp. is a spirurid nematode of vertebrate hosts with an indirect mode of transmission, usually through insect vectors (Mowlavi et al 2009). We recorded the presence of these species in all the mammalian hosts studied except the wild boar (n=8), stripe-necked mongoose (n=2), wild dog (n= 2) and leopard (n=2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mammalian gastrointestinal parasites in rainforest remnants of Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats, India

et al. 2015

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Habitat fragmentation is postulated to be a major factor influencing infectious disease dynamics in wildlife populations and may also be responsible, at least in part, for the recent spurt in the emergence, or re-emergence, of infectious diseases in humans. The mechanism behind these relationships are poorly understood due to the lack of insights into the interacting local factors and insufficient baseline data in ecological parasitology of wildlife. Here, we studied the gastrointestinal parasites of nonhuman mammalian hosts living in 10 rainforest patches of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, India. We examined 349 faecal samples of 17 mammalian species and successfully identified 24 gastrointestinal parasite taxa including 1 protozoan, 2 trematode, 3 cestode and 18 nematode taxa. Twenty of these parasites are known parasites of humans. We also found that as much as 73% of all infected samples were infected by multiple parasites. In addition, the smallest and most fragmented forest patches recorded the highest parasite richness; the pattern across fragments, however, seemed to be less straightforward, suggesting potential interplay of local factors.

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“…However, dung beetle infection with Gongylonema spp. has been recorded in Northwestern Iran [33]. Studies have documented presence of S. armeniacus in Central and Northern Iran [34,35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The beetles have been reported individually as positive or negative for larval stages of helminths. For positive beetles, larvae were removed and transferred into normal saline on ice for 1 h to relax and immobilize [33]. Removed larvae were transferred into lactophenol and 70% ethanol for morphological and molecular studies.…”

Section: Morphological Analysis Of the Recovered Larvaementioning

confidence: 99%

First Report of Spirocerca Lupi Larva in Dung Beetles (Scarabaeus Armeniacus) in Iran: A Morphological and Molecular Identification

Mohtasebi¹,

Teimouri²,

Mja³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Dung beetles are detritivores insects. They naturally use feces of vertebrates as foods and reproduction beds. This leads to frequent contacts between dung beetles and parasitic helminths. The current study was carried out to assess infections of dung beetles with larval stages of helminths in rural areas of Taleqan County, Alborz Province, Iran. In total, 200 dung beetles were randomly collected in June 2017 from the highlands of Taleqan County. Beetles were dissected in normal saline and carefully studied using stereomicroscopy. Morphological characteristics of the recovered larvae were drawn using camera lucida equipped microscope at 400× magnification. Furthermore, genomic DNAs of the recovered larvae were extracted and PCR amplifications of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) genes were carried out and the amplicons were sequenced. Results: All collected dung beetles were identified as Scarabaeus armeniacus from Scarabaeidae family (55.5% were male and 44.5% female). Three females of the beetles were infected with nematode larva, morphologically identified as the third-stage of Spirocerca lupi larvae. The average length and width of the larvae were 2.95 (2.81–3.15; CI 95%) and 0.12 (0.1–0.15; CI 95%) mm, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis showed that S. lupi belonged to a clade within Spirocercidae family, well separated from Onchocercidae family. Conclusions: In the current study, S. armeniacus was introduced as a potentially biological vector for the transmission of S. lupi to vertebrates in the region. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported on larval stages of S. lupi in S. armeniacus.

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A Survey of Dung Beetles Infected with Larval Nematodes with Particular Note on Copris lunaris Beetles as a Vector for Gongylonema sp. in Iran

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Experimental infection of selected arthropods with spirurid nematodesSpirocerca lupiRailliet & Henry, 1911 andGongylonema ingluvicolaMolin, 1857

Experimental infection of selected arthropods with spirurid nematodesSpirocerca lupiRailliet & Henry, 1911 andGongylonema ingluvicolaMolin, 1857

Mammalian gastrointestinal parasites in rainforest remnants of Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats, India

First Report of Spirocerca Lupi Larva in Dung Beetles (Scarabaeus Armeniacus) in Iran: A Morphological and Molecular Identification

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