A survey study on the helminth parasites of two wild jirds, Meriones shawi and M. libycus (Rodentia: Gerbillinae), in Tunisian desert areas

Abstract

A parasitological survey of 107 jirds, belonging to two species, Meriones shawi and M. libycus, was carried out. Rodents were trapped in three separate desert regions of Tunisia: Bouhedma (in the centre), Dghoumes (in the southwest) and Sidi Toui (in the southeast). The survey revealed infection with nine helminth species – six cestodes: Raillietina sp., Meggittina numida, Meggittina gerbilli and Inermicapsifer madagascariensis, and two Taeniidae species: Taenia endothoracicus and Taenia sp.; and three nematodes: Gongylonema neoplasticum, Physaloptera sp. and Trichuris gerbilli. The overall prevalence of helminth infection was 68.22% (73/107); the highest rate was in M. shawi (80.82%, 59 cases), whereas it was 41.17% (14 cases) in M. libycus. The most frequent helminth was Raillietina sp. (53.27%) followed by Meggittina numida (21.5%). Meriones shawi showed the highest helminth diversity with eight parasite species, with synchronous infections of two, three and four species of helminths in one rodent, compared to M. libycus in which only two cestode species were found, without synchronous infection. Moreover, significant differences in the overall infection prevalence between sexes (60.27 and 39.73% for males and females, respectively) and age were detected; only one juvenile specimen of M. shawi was found infected. Prevalence depended also on habitat: the highest infection rate was in Bouhedma (80%), followed by Dghoumes (58.33%), and the lowest was in Sidi Toui (47.82%).