Helminth communities of the autochthonous mustelids Mustela lutreola and M. putorius and the introduced Mustela vison in south-western France

Abstract

This study presents the first comprehensive helminthological data on three sympatric riparian mustelids (the European mink Mustela lutreola, the polecat M. putorius and the American mink M. vison) in south-western France. One hundred and twenty-four specimens (45 M. lutreola, 37 M. putorius and 42 M. vison) from eight French departments were analysed. Globally, 15 helminth species were detected: Troglotrema acutum, Pseudamphistomum truncatum, Euryhelmis squamula, Euparyphium melis and Ascocotyle sp. (Trematoda), Taenia tenuicollis (Cestoda), Eucoleus aerophilus, Pearsonema plica, Aonchotheca putorii, Strongyloides mustelorum, Molineus patens, Crenosoma melesi, Filaroides martis and Skrjabingylus nasicola (Nematoda) and larval stages of Centrorhynchus species (Acanthocephala). The autochthonous European mink harboured the highest species richness (13 species) followed by the polecat with 11 species. The introduced American mink presented the most depauperate helminth community (nine species). The prevalence and worm burden of most of the helminths found in M. putorius and M. lutreola were also higher than those of M. vison. Some characteristics of their helminth communities were compared to relatively nearby populations (Spain) and other very distant populations (Belarus). This comparison emphasized M. patens as the most frequent parasite in all of the analysed mustelid populations. It was possible to conclude that the invasive M. vison contributes to the maintenance of the life cycle of the pathogenic T. acutum and S. nasicola helminths, with possible implications for the conservation of the endangered European mink.

Principal intestinal parasites of dogs in Tirana, Albania

“…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 impact of introduced hosts on parasite transmission: opisthorchiid infections in American mink (Neovison vison)

“…More generally, fitness-associated traits of parasites are higher in the native host (Dunn and Dick 1998;Roche et al 2010;Gendron et al 2012;Lacerda et al 2012;Ondračková et al 2012). The prevalence and abundance (or intensity) of native helminths has been compared between introduced and native definitive hosts (Kelly et al 2009), including the American mink in Europe (Shimalov and Shimaliv 2001;Torres et al 2003Torres et al , 2008. Each of these studies indicated a paucity of helminth fauna diversity (and prevalence) in the introduced mink relative to native hosts (Torres et al 2008).…”

“…The prevalence and abundance (or intensity) of native helminths has been compared between introduced and native definitive hosts (Kelly et al 2009), including the American mink in Europe (Shimalov and Shimaliv 2001;Torres et al 2003Torres et al , 2008. Each of these studies indicated a paucity of helminth fauna diversity (and prevalence) in the introduced mink relative to native hosts (Torres et al 2008). Prior to the current study, differences in macroparasite fecundity within introduced and native definitive hosts do not appear to have been explored, yet this is a fundamental aspect of parasite transmission potential.…”

Biliary parasite Pseudamphistomum truncatum (Opistorchiidae) in American mink (Mustela vison) and Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in Ireland

“…truncatum has been recorded in a broad range of carnivore species; otter (Schuster et al 1988), polecat (Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758) (Shimalov and Shimalov 2002), European mink (Mustela lutreola Linnaeus, 1761) (Anisimova 2004;Torres et al 2008), stoat (Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758), weasel (Mustela nivalis Linnaeus, 1766) (Shimalov and Shimalov 2001b), wolverine (Gulo gulo Linnaeus, 1758) (Healy 1970), red fox (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758) (Schuster et al 1999(Schuster et al , 2001bSaeed et al 2006), wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) (Shimalov and Shimalov 2000), grey seals (Halichoerus grypus Fabricius, 1791) (Bergman 2007) and Caspian seals (Phoca caspica Gmelin, 1788) (Kuiken et al 2006). P. truncatum has also been found to infect domestic animals; cats (Traldi and Manca 1982), where it was described as Distomum conus (Creplin 1825) and dogs (Healy 1970).…”