Folia Parasitologica 60[2] 102-104 (2013) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2013.011

Calodium hepaticum (Nematoda: Capillaridae) in a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Italy with scanning electron microscopy of the eggs

Fabio Macchioni1, Luca Chelucci1, Lisa Guardone1, Walter Mignone2, Maria Cristina Prati3, Marta Magi1
1 Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy;
2 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Piedmont, Liguria and Aosta Valley, Imperia, Italy;
3 Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: Calodium hepaticum (Bancroft, 1893) Moravec, 1982 (syn. Capillaria hepatica) is a cosmopolitan capillariid nematode, infecting mainly rodents and occasionally other mammals, including humans. Reports of C. hepaticum in canids are rare and the present one is, to the best of our knowledge, the first reported case in a red fox (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus) in Italy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination of the eggs of C. hepaticum allowed a precise description of the egg morphology, which is one of the most relevant specific characteristics of capillariid nematodes. The egg shell showed a fibrous beam-like network which differs from that of the eggs of closely related trichinelloid species. This characteristic can be useful especially in case of spurious infection, when misdiagnosis among different trichinelloids species can occur.

Keywords: Capillaridae, Calodium hepaticum, egg shell, morphology, ultrastructure

Received: September 25, 2012; Accepted: October 22, 2012; Published: May 10, 2013  Show citation

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Macchioni, F., Chelucci, L., Guardone, L., Mignone, W., Prati, M.C., & Magi, M. (2013). Calodium hepaticum (Nematoda: Capillaridae) in a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Italy with scanning electron microscopy of the eggs. Folia Parasitologica, 60(2), 102-104. doi: 10.14411/fp.2013.011
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