Folia Parasitologica, vol. 65 (2018)
Seven new species of Resartor Gustafsson et Bush, 2017 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) from Asian ʻbabblers' (Passeriformes: Leiothrichidae, Paradoxornithidae)
Daniel Roland Gustafsson, Xingzhi Chu, Sarah Elizabeth Bush, Fasheng Zou
Folia Parasitologica 65:020 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.020 
Seven new species of chewing lice in the genus Resartor Gustafsson et Bush, 2017 are described and illustrated. They are: Resartor albofulvus sp. n. ex Heterophasia desgodinsi desgodinsi (Oustalet); Resartor apimimus sp. n. ex Heterophasia picaoides wrayi (Ogilvie-Grant); Resartor aterrimus sp. n. ex Minla ignotincta mariae La Touche; Resartor extraneus sp. n. ex Lioparus chrysotis swinhoii (Verreaux); Resartor guangxiensis sp. n. ex Trochalopteron milnei sinianum Stresemann; Resartor longisuturalis sp. n. ex Actinodura cyanouroptera wingatei (Ogilvie-Grant);...
Preservation of macroparasite species via classic plastination: an evaluation
Moisés Gonzálvez, Juana Ortiz, María Navarro, Rafael Latorre
Folia Parasitologica 65:019 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.019
Plastination is a preservation method for biological specimens, with important advantages over classic conservation techniques with formaldehyde or alcohol. Plastinated specimens are dry, odourless, and free of carcinogenic and toxic solutions. There are only few references about the plastination of parasites. Moreover, there is no information on the effect of plastination on the morphology and morphometry of these animals. The aim of this study was to define a plastination protocol to preserve various species of parasites, namely the nematodes Parascaris equorum (Goeze, 1782); Ascaris suum Goeze, 1782 and Dirofilaria immitis...
Detection of Neospora caninum (Toxoplasmatidae) in wild small mammals from Thailand
Ornampai Japa, Serge Morand, Anamika Karnchanabanthoeng, Kittipong Chaisiri, Alexis Ribas
Folia Parasitologica 65:018 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.018
The presence of Neospora caninum Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in small mammals (i.e. murid rodents, Erinaceomorpha, Eulipotyphla and Scadentia) was explored for first time in South-East Asia. A total of 192 individuals from six localities across Thailand were analysed. A general prevalence of N. caninum of 22% was observed, with some variation among localities (5-36%). Four main types of habitat were included and rodents trapped in dry-land habitat (17 positive among 41 individuals) were more likely to be infected with N. caninum than those from other habitats (forest, rain-fed land and settlement). Rodent species...
The chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae) on wild birds in Honduras
Stanislav Kalúz, Ivan Literák, Stanislav Kolenčík
Folia Parasitologica 65:017 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.017
The chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae) Blankaartia sinnamaryi (Floch et Fauran, 1956), Parasecia soucouyanti (Brennan et Yunker, 1966), Eutrombicula lipovskyana (Wolfenbarger, 1952) and Neoschoengastia dalmati Brennan, 1951 were found in Honduras on a total of twelve bird species. Parasecia soucouyanti was recorded parasitising birds for the first time. All these mites are here reported from Honduras for the first time.
Rhabdochona angusticaudata sp. n. (Nematoda: Rhabdochonidae) from the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica, and new records of some other nematodes from inland fishes in Japan
František Moravec, Kazuya Nagasawa
Folia Parasitologica 65:016 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.016
Collections of parasitic nematodes of fishes from some freshwater and brackish-water localities in Honshu, Shikoku and Hokkaido, Japan, carried out in 1996-2009, yielded the following eight species: Hysterothylacium haze (Machida, Takahashi et Masuuchi, 1978) (Anisakidae), Paraquimperia sp., Pingus sinensis Hsü, 1933 (both Quimperiidae), Heliconema anguillae Yamaguti, 1935 (Physalopteridae), Rhabdochona angusticaudata sp. n., Rhabdochona zacconis Yamaguti, 1935 (both Rhabdochonidae), Ascarophis arctica Polyanskiy, 1952 (Cystidicolidae) and Eustrongylides sp. larvae (Dioctophymatidae). The new...
Diversity of haemoprotozoan parasites infecting the wildlife of South Africa
D. James Harris, Ali Halajian, Joana L. Santos, Lourens H. Swanepoel, Peter John Taylor, Raquel Xavier
Folia Parasitologica 65:015 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.015
Tissue samples from wildlife from South Africa were opportunistically collected and screened for haemoprotozoan parasites using nonspecific PCR primers. Samples of 127 individuals were tested, comprising over 50 different species. Haemogregarines were the most commonly identified parasites, but sarcocystids and piroplasmids were also detected. Phylogenetic analyses estimated from the 18S rDNA marker highlighted the occurrence of several novel parasite forms and the detection of parasites in novel hosts. Phylogenetic relationships, which have been recently reviewed, appear to be much more complex than previously considered. Our study highlights the...
Two new species of Stillabothrium (Cestoda: Rhinebothriidea) from stingrays of the genus Fontitrygon from Senegal
Elsie A. Dedrick, Florian B. Reyda, Elise K. Iwanyckyj, Timothy R. Ruhnke
Folia Parasitologica 65:014 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.014
Morphological and molecular analyses of cestode specimens collected during survey work of batoid elasmobranchs and their parasites in Senegal revealed two new species of the rhinebothriidean cestode genus Stillabothrium Healy et Reyda 2016. Stillabothrium allisonae Dedrick et Reyda sp. n. and Stillabothrium charlotteae Iwanyckyj, Dedrick et Reyda sp. n. are both described from Fontitrygon margaritella (Compagno et Roberts) and Fontitrygon margarita (Günther). Both new cestode species overlap in geographic distribution, host use and proglottid morphology, but are distinguished from each other, and from the other seven...
Behaviour and eating habits as determinants for human opisthorchiasis in the Bolsena Lake area, Italy
Paola Scaramozzino, Roberto Condoleo, Enrica Martini, Teresa Bossù, Silvia Aquilani, Valentina Spallucci, Elisabetta Aquilini, Selene Marozzi
Folia Parasitologica 65:013 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.013
In Italy, food-borne outbreaks of opisthorchiasis have occurred since 2003, all of them originating from some lakes in Central Italy where the only European liver fluke, Opisthorchis felineus (Rivolta, 1884) is endemic. The aim of the present study is to investigate the factors that may facilitate the life cycle of O. felineus in the area of Bolsena Lake, the knowledge of the local population about opisthorchiasis, and preventative healthcare measures. We performed a descriptive observational study through the submission of questionnaires to three target populations: fishermen who fish exclusively in Bolsena Lake, restaurateurs...
Haemogregarine (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) infection in Vanderhaege's toad-headed turtle, Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Chelidae), from a Brazilian Neotropical savanna region
Vinícius C. Goes, Elizângela S. Brito, Rafael M. Valadão, Camila O. Gutierrez, Amanda M. Picelli, Lúcio A. Viana
Folia Parasitologica 65:012 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.012
Knowledge of blood parasites in Brazilian chelonians is limited, since they have been recorded in only six species. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Bour) is a freshwater turtle with a wide geographic distribution in Brazil, but there is little information about its natural history. This paper reports on a study of the prevalence and infection intensity of a haemogregarine in two subpopulations of M. vanderhaegei. The study was conducted in two areas of Cerrado in the Upper Paraguay River basin in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, between November 2010 and August 2013. Ninety-five (53%) of the 179 turtles captured were positive for haemogregarine...
Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and substance use in US adults
Andrew N. Berrett, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Evan L. Thacker, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges
Folia Parasitologica 65:011 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.011
The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) infects humans resulting in acute toxoplasmosis, an infection that in immunocompetent people is typically mild but results in persistent latent toxoplasmosis. In that T. gondii appears to affect dopamine synthesis and because addicting drugs affect midbrain dopamine transmission, latent toxoplasmosis could influence substance use. Using both the third and continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we used logistic regression to test for associations between T. gondii seropositivity and...
Limitations in the screening of potentially anti-cryptosporidial agents using laboratory rodents with gastric cryptosporidiosis
Andrea Valigurová, Radka Pecková, Karel Doležal, Bohumil Sak, Dana Květoňová, Martin Kváč, Wisnu Nurcahyo, Ivona Foitová
Folia Parasitologica 65:010 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.010
Abstract: The emergence of cryptosporidiosis, a zoonotic disease of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract caused by Cryptosporidium Tyzzer, 1907, triggered numerous screening studies of various compounds for potential anti-cryptosporidial activity, the majority of which proved ineffective. Extracts of Indonesian plants, Piper betle and Diospyros sumatrana, were tested for potential anti-cryptosporidial activity using Mastomys coucha (Smith), experimentally inoculated with Cryptosporidium proliferans Kváč, Havrdová, Hlásková, Daňková, Kanděra, Ježková, Vítovec, Sak, Ortega, Xiao, Modrý, Chelladurai, Prantlová...
Structure of parasite communities in urban environments: the case of helminths in synanthropic rodents
Diego Hancke, Olga Virginia Suárez
Folia Parasitologica 65:009 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.009
Identifying patterns with sufficient predictive power is a constant challenge for ecologists to address ecological problems related to species conservation, pollution or infectious disease control. During the last years, the amounts of parasitological studies in this sense increased, but they are still scarce in urban environments. The main aim of this study was to investigate if the helminth communities of urban rodents are structured within host assembly (compound community) or they are a result of random events occurring at each individual host scale (infracommunity). A total of 203 rodents belonging to four species, Rattus rattus (Linnaeus),...
Molecular screening for bacterial pathogens in ticks (Ixodes ricinus) collected on migratory birds captured in northern Italy
Massimo Pajoro, Dario Pistone, Ilaria Varotto Boccazzi, Valeria Mereghetti, Claudio Bandi, Massimo Fabbi, Francesco Scattorin, Davide Sassera, Matteo Montagna
Folia Parasitologica 65:008 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.008
Migratory birds have an important role in transporting ticks and associated tick-borne pathogens over long distances. In this study, 2,793 migratory birds were captured by nets in a ringing station, located in northern Italy, and checked for the presence of ticks. Two-hundred and fifty-one ticks were identified as nymphs and larvae of Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758) and they were PCR-screened for the presence of bacteria belonging to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Rickettsia spp., Francisella tularensis and Coxiella burnetii. Four species of Borrelia (B. garinii, B. afzelii, B. valaisiana...
Cloning, expression and characterisation of a cysteine protease from Trichinella spiralis
Yan Yan Song, Li Ang Wang, Hua Na Ren, Xin Qi, Ge Ge Sun, Ruo Dan Liu, Peng Jiang, Xi Zhang, Jing Cui, Zhong Quan Wang
Folia Parasitologica 65:007 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.007
Cysteine protease is a superfamily of widespread proteolytic enzymes and plays a major role in larval invasion, migration, exsheathing, survival and immune evasion in parasites. In the present study, the gene coding cysteine proteinase of the nematode Trichinella spiralis (Owen, 1835) was cloned into pQE-80L and subsequently expressed in E. coli JM109. The rTsCP was purified and its antigenicity was identified by Western blot and ELISA. Using anti-rTsCP serum the native TsCP was identified in muscle larval crude proteins. The results of quantitative real-time PCR and immunofluorescence test demonstrated that the TsCP was expressed in...
Horizontal transmission of the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus arcuatus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) to the next generation of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus
Jaakko Lumme, Marek S. Ziętara
Folia Parasitologica 65:006 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.006
In the parthenogenetic monogeneans of the genus Gyrodactylus Nordmann, 1832, the genetic diversity within or between hosts is determined by the relative roles of lateral transmission and clonal propagation. Clonality and limited transmission lead to high-amplitude metapopulation dynamics and strong genetic drift. In Baltic populations of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, the local mitochondrial diversity of Gyrodactylus arcuatus Bychowsky, 1933 is very high, and spatial differentiation weak. To understand the transmission dynamics in a single location, the transmission of the parasite from adults to...
New records of philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from marine fishes off Australia, including description of four new species and erection of Digitiphilometroides gen. n.
František Moravec, Diane P. Barton
Folia Parasitologica 65:005 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.005
The following six species of the Philometridae (Nematoda: Dracunculoidea) were recorded from marine fishes off the northern coast of Australia in 2015 and 2016: Philometra arafurensis sp. n. and Philometra papillicaudata sp. n. from the ovary and the tissue behind the gills, respectively, of the emperor red snapper Lutjanus sebae (Cuvier); Philometra mawsonae sp. n. and Dentiphilometra malabarici sp. n. from the ovary and the tissue behind the gills, respectively, of the Malabar blood snapper Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch et Schneider); Philometra sp. from the ovary of the goldbanded jobfish Pristipomoides...
Two new species of Hepatozoon (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) parasitising species of Philothamnus (Ophidia: Colubridae) from South Africa
Courtney Antonia Cook, Edward Charles Netherlands, Johann van As, Nico Jacobus Smit
Folia Parasitologica 65:004 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.004
To date, only a few species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 have been described from amphibians and reptiles of South Africa, including two species from anuran hosts, three from saurians, one from chelonians, and two from ophidians. Hepatozoon bitis (Fantham, 1925) and Hepatozoon refringens (Sambon et Seligmann, 1907), parasitising Bitis arientans (Merrem) and Pseudoaspis cana (Linnaeus), respectively, were described in the early 1900s and since then there have been no further species of Hepatozoon described from snakes in South Africa. Blood smears, used in peripheral blood haemogregarine stage morphometrics, and...
New information on morphology and molecular data of camallanid nematodes parasitising Xenopus laevis (Anura: Pipidae) in South Africa
Roman Svitin, Anneke L. Schoeman, Louis H. du Preez
Folia Parasitologica 65:003 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.003
Three species of nematodes from the Camallanidae that are known to infect Xenopus laevis Daudin (Anura: Pipidae) were collected from several localities across South Africa. New data on morphology, partial 28S and cox1 genes, infection levels and distribution are presented herein. The most common species, Batrachocamallanus slomei Southwell et Kirshner, 1937, from the stomach and less often oesophagus, was found in eight localities. Camallanus kaapstaadi Southwell et Kirshner, 1937, also from the oesophagus, was found in two localities and C. xenopodis Jackson et Tinsley, 1995, from the intestine, at a single locality....
High density of fox and cat faeces in kitchen gardens and resulting rodent exposure to Echinococcus multilocularis and Toxoplasma gondii
Matthieu Bastien, Amélie Vaniscotte, Benoit Combes, Gérald Umhang, Estelle Germain, Valentin Gouley, Alice Pierlet, Thomas Quintaine, Marie-Amélie Forin-Wiart, Isabelle Villena, Dominique Aubert, Franck Boué, Marie-Lazarine Poulle
Folia Parasitologica 65:002 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.002
The faeces of the red fox, Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus), and the domestic cat, Felis catus (Linnaeus), can be responsible for spreading eggs of Echinococcus multilocularis Leuckart, 1863 and oocysts of Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) into the environment. The accidental ingestion of these eggs or oocysts, through consumption of raw fruits or vegetables grown in or in contact with contaminated soil, can lead to alveolar echinococcosis (AE) or toxoplasmosis in humans. The present study provides a quantitative assessment of the faecal deposition by foxes and cats in kitchen gardens where fruits and vegetables are...
Tapeworm chromosomes: their value in systematics with instructions for cytogenetic study
Martina Orosová, Marta Špakulová
Folia Parasitologica 65:001 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.001
The history and value of cytogenetic features for addressing questions of the evolution and systematics of tapeworms (Cestoda) are briefly reviewed along with instructions for collecting karyological data. As a supplement to worm morphology, chromosome number and morphology have been helpful in determining the systematic status of some genera in the Diphyllobothriidae and species in the Bothriocephallidea. In addition, many new techniques for chromosome analysis have been recently applied in morphological and molecular studies of invertebrates, including tapeworms. Methods of molecular karyology, fluorescence in situ hybridisation, and chromosomal...