Helminth Communities of Green and Brown Frogs from Poland (Lower Silesia Region)

Abstract

Green Frogs (genus Pelophylax) and Brown Frogs (genus Rana) differ because of behavioral reasons. Green Frogs in the adult stage are associated strongly with aquatic environment, and the Brown Frogs, apart from reproduction, spend most of their lives in the terrestrial environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the helminth fauna of these frogs from Lower Silesia (Poland) and update data on occurrence of parasites in these hosts. During faunistic investigations, 116 frogs were subjected to parasitological studies. Adult stages of all helminth groups were present in the examined frogs. The highest species richness of helminths was observed in Rana arvalis, whereas the lowest species richness occurred in Pelophylax lessonae. In the examined material, we were able to identify Nematotaenia dispar in R. arvalis. Additionally, we recorded Icosiella neglecta and Hedruris androphora in Green Frogs. The parasite communities of Green Frogs were dominated by digeneans, but terrestrial amphibians (Brown Frogs), by nematode species (i.e., Cosmocerca ornata, Oswaldocruzia filiformis, and Rhabdias bufonis).