Analysis of helminth communities of the pine marten, Martes martes, in Spain: Mainland and insular data

Abstract

The present study analyses the helminth communities found in one hundred and two specimens of Martes martes from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Archipelago. The component community is constituted by seventeen helminth species, which frequency and mean abundance show a bimodal pattern. The set of core species is constituted by the trichurids Pearsonema plica, Eucoleus aerophilus and Aonchotheca putorii (72.2% of total helminth individuals found), while the remaining can be considered satellite species. Significant co-occurrences were found among E. aerophilus/A. putorii and E. aerophilus/P. plica. These results demonstrate the great importance of earthworms within the diet of pine marten and contribute to the knowledge of the pine marten's food ethology, since this kind of prey normally goes undetected in diet studies. Several helminth species, as Sobolevingylus petrowi, Centrorhynchus aluconis, Uncinaria criniformis, Mastophorus muris and Spirura rytipleurites seurati seem to show geographical distributions limited to insular ecosystems. Moreover, helminth communities of M. martes among four Spanish territories, including mainland and insular areas, are characterized and compared.

Principal intestinal parasites of dogs in Tirana, Albania

“…Some mustelid species were recorded as final hosts of Centrorhynchus ninni in Europe and Kazakhstan (Petrochenko 1958;Prokopič 1965;Kozlov 1977;Hohlova 1986;Torres et al 2003) and Centrorhynchus itatsinis in Japan (Fukui 1929). However, most of the centrorhynchid species recorded from mammals (marsupials and carnivores-mustelids, canids, felids, procyonids and mephitids) concerned single immature specimens like this in the present study (Meyer 1933;Ânčev and Genov 1979;Richardson and Nickol 1995;Eira et al 2006;Segovia et al 2007;Schuster et al 2009). Therefore, it is believed that the latter are only accidental hosts for Centrorhynchus spp.…”

“…F. martis is a gastropod-transmitted nematode commonly observed in mustelids (Kontrimavichus and Delyamure 1985) with documented findings throughout Europe except for the Balkan Peninsula (e.g. Sołtys 1962;Prokopič 1965;Mituch 1972;Schellner 1982;Zimmerli 1982;Miquel et al 1992;Torres et al 1996Torres et al , 1996Torres et al /1997Torres et al , 2003Torres et al , 2008Siderovich and Anisimova 1997;Shimalov andShimalov 2001, 2002;Anisimova 2002;Segovia et al 2007). Other Filaroides species, in particular Filaroides (Oslerus) osleri, are considered pulmonary nematodes parasitizing dogs (Eckert 2000b).…”

The parasite fauna of stray domestic cats (Felis catus) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“…The majority of the positive cats were trapped in the desert. According to Chochlova (1986), C. aluconis is an intestinal parasite of falcons and other birds of prey, but it was also recorded in cats in Russia (Kostylew 1926) and Bulgaria (Yanchev and Genov 1979) and in pine martens in Spain (Segovia et al 2007). The life cycle includes amphibians (Vojtkova 1979) and reptiles (Sharpilo 1976a, b;Lisitsyna and Sharpilo 1984) as paratenic hosts.…”

Insularity effects on bird immune parameters: A comparison between island and mainland populations in West Africa

“…Fleischer, S. Reis, C. Doutrelant, R. Covas, unpublished data). Other examples include a decrease in helminth parasite richness in rodents from the Mediterranean islands (de Bellocq, Morand, & Feliu, 2002), lizards in Northern Lesser Antilles (Dobson, Pacala, Roughgarden, Carper, & Harris, 1992), or in pine martens Martes martes in the Baleares (Segovia et al, 2007). Second, islands are expected to show different parasite prevalence.…”