Ectoparasites of hares (Lepus europaeus Pallas) in Konya Province, Turkey

Abstract

IntroductionLepus europaeus is a cosmopolitan species and found in almost all parts of Turkey. The lice, fleas, and ticks, as well as some other ectoparasites found on hares, suck blood and cause irritation and anemia when found in large quantities on the host. It has been generally accepted that Leporacarus gibbus is a scavenger on skin and hair detritus and that Cheyletiella parasitivorax feeds on tissue fluids after piercing the skin of the rabbit and causes skin irritation on the back (1,2). Lice, ticks, and fleas are vectors of zoonotic pathogens and they can transmit some pathogenic agents to wild mammals and humans (1,(3)(4)(5)(6). Haemodipsus lyriocephalus, H. ventricosus, and H. setoni can transmit tularemia to their hosts (4,5), while Spilopsyllus cuniculi is an important vector of rabbit myxomatosis (1,3).Two hundred and ninety-six hares (L. europaeus) were examined for endoparasites and ectoparasites, 272 of which were found to be infested with parasites and two ectoparasite species, L. gibbus and S. cuniculi, in northern Germany between years of 1990 and 1993 (7). In another study (2) in the Daejeon area of South Korea, 164 (65.3%) of 251 examined rabbits were found to be infested with ectoparasites of three species: C. parasitovorax (60.6%), Psoroptes cuniculi (2.8%), and Ornithonyssus bacoti (1.9%). The sucking lice occurring on wild rabbits are represented by the genus Haemodipsus. It was reported that H. ventricosus from chickens (8) and H. lyriocephalus, H. setoni, and Haemodipsus leporis from hares (L. europaeus) were detected in earlier studies in Turkey (9-11).There are relatively limited data published on ectoparasites of rabbits and hares in Turkey and some of these studies contain no information about the host species. The prevalence of ectoparasites was declared in some of these studies or reviews (8-14), while others were only case reports (15)(16)(17)(18). It was reported that Cimex hemipterus (as Cimex rotundatus in the paper), S. cuniculi, P. cuniculi, Otodectes cynotis, Neotrombicula (N.) autumnalis (Trombicula autumnalis in the paper), C. parasitivorax, Ornithodoros lahorensis, Ixodes hexagonus, and Hyalomma excavatum were detected on rabbits and hares in Turkey up to 1965 (8). Aksın and Aksın (13) recorded 27 (71.05%) of 38 wild rabbits infested with 27 ectoparasites and detected five species: C. parasitivorax, Rhipicephalus bursa, Hae. parva (Haemaphysalis otophila in the paper), T. autumnalis, and Ctenocephalides canis. Until now, there has been no study carried out about ectoparasites of the hares in Konya Province as well as other regions of Turkey, except sucking lice of the hares (9-11). This study was performed to detect ectoparasites on the hares in Konya Province, Turkey.

Epidemiological study and identification of some flea species infesting wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and cape hares (Lepus capensis) in northern Algeria

“…Fleas are cosmopolitan ectoparasites that live in various different host species. The usual hosts of S. cuniculi are domestic rabbits and hares (18). Mead-Briggs and Page quoted 14 flea species, including P. irritans and N. fasciatus, as well as S. cuniculi, infesting rabbits in Great Britain (18).…”

“…Mead-Briggs and Page quoted 14 flea species, including P. irritans and N. fasciatus, as well as S. cuniculi, infesting rabbits in Great Britain (18). In Victoria, Australia N. fasciatus was also recorded from one wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) (18), whereas, the hares were infested by E.myrmecobii, S.cuniculi and one C.canis were detected on one young female hare in two regions of Victoria (19). P. irritans were found on wild rabbits in the United States (18) and Canada (18).…”

The role of european brown hare (Lepus europaeus) as a source of emerging and re-emerging pathogens

“…Various mammals including red fox, cat, dog, rodents, mustelids, voles, marten, badger and wild boars are accidental hosts of S. cuniculi. Pulex irritans and Nosopsyllus fasciatus have been also detected in European brown hare (Dik and Uslu, 2018) while also they attack a wide variety of mammals including rodents and humans and they are competent vectors of Bartonella spp (Bitam et al, 2010). Among the tick genera reported in hares, , Haemaphysalis and Dermacentor (Dantas-Torres et al, 2011;Dik and Uslu, 2018;Psaroulaki et al, 2014) were found infected by several Bartonella spp (Breitschwerdt, 2017;Sréter-Lancz et al, 2006) in previous studies but a causal link between Bartonella spp., clinical signs, and tick bite has not been established yet (Vayssier-Taussat et al, 2016).…”

“…Pulex irritans and Nosopsyllus fasciatus have been also detected in European brown hare (Dik and Uslu, 2018) while also they attack a wide variety of mammals including rodents and humans and they are competent vectors of Bartonella spp (Bitam et al, 2010). Among the tick genera reported in hares, , Haemaphysalis and Dermacentor (Dantas-Torres et al, 2011;Dik and Uslu, 2018;Psaroulaki et al, 2014) were found infected by several Bartonella spp (Breitschwerdt, 2017;Sréter-Lancz et al, 2006) in previous studies but a causal link between Bartonella spp., clinical signs, and tick bite has not been established yet (Vayssier-Taussat et al, 2016). Although, further studies are needed to infer the role of hare in the transmission cycle of bartonellae, the results obtained so far are not suggestive of its role as an alternative reservoir.…”

“…Albeit not being able to demonstrate the occurrence of Bartonella DNA in hare blood samples and to define the responsible species, our findings are suggestive of hare exposure to Bartonella spp. Hare is often infested with ectoparasites including fleas, ticks and lice (Dik and Uslu, 2018) but data on the arthropod species infesting hares in Greece are lacking. It has been suggested that there is not a specific "hare flea" for European hares, but rabbit, rat or hedgehog fleas may infest this species (Mullineaux et al, 2016).…”