Gastrointestinal parasites of maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus, Illiger 1815) in a suburban area in southeastern Brazil

Rl Massara,Ag Chiarello,Amo Paschoal

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.20013

Rl Massara, Ag Chiarello + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.20013

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Abstract

We examined 42 maned wolf scats in an unprotected and disturbed area of Cerrado in southeastern Brazil. We identified six helminth endoparasite taxa, being Phylum Acantocephala and Family Trichuridae the most prevalent. The high prevalence of the Family Ancylostomatidae indicates a possible transmission via domestic dogs, which are abundant in the study area. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the endoparasite species found are not different from those observed in protected or least disturbed areas, suggesting a high resilience of maned wolf and their parasites to human impacts, or a common scenario of disease transmission from domestic dogs to wild canid whether in protected or unprotected areas of southeastern Brazil.

Highlights

In Brazil the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is endangered with extinction, being the infectious diseases one of the major threats to the species (Machado et al, 2008)
It is not easy to know whether parasitic infections represent a great harm to this species in Brazil, since few studies involving gastrointestinal parasites of C. brachyurus have been performed in nature (Dietz, 1984; Mattos et al, 2005; Braga et al, 2010; Curi et al, 2010, 2012; Santos et al, 2012)
The main questions that we addressed here are: do the gastrointestinal parasites found in this location differ from those found in less disturbed areas? What these parasites indicate or suggest about the resilience of maned wolf or the parasite themselves to man-made disturbances?

Summary

Introduction

In Brazil the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is endangered with extinction, being the infectious diseases one of the major threats to the species (Machado et al, 2008). It is not easy to know whether parasitic infections represent a great harm to this species in Brazil, since few studies involving gastrointestinal parasites of C. brachyurus have been performed in nature (Dietz, 1984; Mattos et al, 2005; Braga et al, 2010; Curi et al, 2010, 2012; Santos et al, 2012). This study is the first to analyse the gastrointestinal parasites of C.brachyurus in an unprotected (suburban) area of the Cerrado near a large urban center in southeastern Brazil. The main questions that we addressed here are: do the gastrointestinal parasites found in this location differ from those found in less disturbed areas? What these parasites indicate or suggest about the resilience of maned wolf or the parasite themselves to man-made disturbances?

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