Abstract
To understand the importance of host’ habitat choice in determining parasite burden, we studied the distribution of two helminth parasites of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in south-eastern Europe (Romania): Crenosoma vulpis and Eucoleus aerophilus, both widely distributed respiratory nematodes parasitic in various carnivores. Even though the life cycle and biology of the two nematodes follow a different pattern, both parasites appear to be co-distributed and often co-infect foxes with variable prevalences across their range. Between July 2016 and August 2018, 550 red foxes, V. vulpes were collected by hunters in different localities from 22 counties of Romania and examined by necropsy. All parasites found in the trachea and bronchial system were collected and preserved in 70% ethanol. We characterised red fox/parasite habitats using seven predictors (fragmentation, altitude, presence/absence of water surface, per cent cover of arable land/grassland/urbanized areas/forest cover/wetlands). Prevalence, abundance, intensity, and sex ratio were calculated and statistically analysed using the R software. Out of the 550 examined foxes, 76.2% were infected with lungworms. The overall prevalence was 32.0% for C. vulpis and 72.5% for E. aerophilus. The mean intensity of infection was 13.70 for C. vulpis 6.15 for E. aerophilus. For both nematodes, the prevalence was significantly higher in males than in females, and there was no influence of hosts’ age. No statistical differences were found for intensity and mean intensity in the case of infection with C. vulpis and E. aerophilus between age and sex categories. The abundance of C. vulpis showed a strong positive relationship with the presence of wetlands and habitat fragmentation. We found a significant correlation between the abundance of E. aerophilus and altitude, with foxes from higher elevations showing higher prevalences.
Highlights
Parasitic helminths are common in most carnivore species and may cause significant pathology in their hosts
To understand the importance of host’ habitat choice in determining parasite burden, we studied the distribution of Crenosoma vulpis and Eucoleus aerophilus (=Capillaria aerophila), two widely distributed respiratory nematodes of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), in south-eastern Europe, Romania
The intensity of infection varied between 1 and 265 nematodes per fox for C. vulpis (Table 3) and between 1 and 51 nematodes per fox for E. aerophilus (Table 4). For both C. vulpis and E. aerophilus, the prevalence was significantly higher in males than in females, and there was no influence of the age (Tables 5 and 6)
Summary
Parasitic helminths are common in most carnivore species and may cause significant pathology in their hosts. As most species are transmitted via food ingestion (either from an intermediate host or accidentally), host diet and habitat use may play key roles in the acquisition of infections (Samuel et al, 2001). To understand the importance of host’ habitat choice in determining parasite burden, we studied the distribution of Crenosoma vulpis and Eucoleus aerophilus (=Capillaria aerophila), two widely distributed respiratory nematodes of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), in south-eastern Europe, Romania. Crenosoma vulpis is an ovoviviparous strongylid, infecting the bronchioles, bronchi and sometimes trachea of a wide range of canids (Canis lupus, Canis aureus, Nyctereutes procyonoides, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, Vulpes lagopus, V. vulpes) and mustelids (Lutra lutra, Martes spp., Meles meles) in Europe and North America (Anderson, 2000; Gherman and Mihalca, 2017). Unlike the case of other lungworms of carnivores, for which various small vertebrates have been demonstrated as paratenic hosts (Mozzer and Lima, 2015; Colella et al, 2019), no such information is available for C. vulpis (Colella et al, 2016)
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