Abstract
Spiny mice, Acomys cahirinus dimidiatus, inhabiting the wadis close to St Katherine in the mountains of the Sinai peninsula, were trapped and their helminth parasites were studied. Sixty one mice provided faeces for analysis and 27 were killed and autopsied. Six species of helminths were recorded (the spirurid nematodes, Protospirura muricola (74.1%) and Mastophorus muris (11.1%), the oxyuroid nematodes, Dentostomella kuntzi (59.3%), Aspiculuris africana (3.7%), and Syphacia minuta (3.7%) and the hymenolepidid cestode Rodentolepis negevi (18.5%)). The spirurids were the dominant species present, accounting for up to 0.87% of total host body weight. Analysis of worm weights and lengths suggested that transmission had been taking place in the months preceding our study. No sex difference in the prevalence or abundance of spirurids was detected. Significant differences were identified in the abundance of total nematode burdens and the mean helminth species richness between the three wadis which provided multiple captures of mice. There was also a marked effect of host age on both parameters. A highly significant positive correlation between spirurid egg counts and total worm biomass indicated that non-invasive techniques based on egg counts could be used to quantify worm burdens and when this technique was applied to a larger sample size (n = 61), a significant difference between sites but no host sex or age effects were detected for spirurid faecal egg counts. The data suggest that there are differences between helminth component communities infecting spiny mice in different neighbouring wadis, a hypothesis which will be explored further through our continuing studies in the Sinai.
Highlights
The ecology, and the component community structure, of helminth parasites in small rodent populations has been well documented in temperate regions of Europe (Kisielewska, 1970; Haukisalmi et al, 1988; Montgomery & Montgomery, 1990; Abu-Madi et al, 1998) and northern America (Murphy, 1952; Grundman, 1957; Boggs et al, 1991)
The number of A. cahirinus dimidiatus caught at each site and examined by faecal analysis and by autopsy is shown in table 1
Some give the prevalence of infection (Greenberg, 1969; Wertheim & Greenberg, 1970) in Acomys spp. in relation to habitat type but, to our knowledge, none provide detailed quantitative information on helminth component community structures, range of variation in infracommunity structures nor probe the underlying ecology of the host– parasite systems involved in depth
Summary
The ecology, and the component community structure, of helminth parasites in small rodent populations has been well documented in temperate regions of Europe (Kisielewska, 1970; Haukisalmi et al, 1988; Montgomery & Montgomery, 1990; Abu-Madi et al, 1998) and northern America (Murphy, 1952; Grundman, 1957; Boggs et al, 1991). Ecological studies on the parasites of rodents inhabiting hostile, arid regions in the Middle East and Africa are scarce (Greenberg, 1969; Erhardova-Kotrla & Daniel, 1970; Wertheim & Greenberg, 1970) and little is known about the relative importance of factors responsible for variation in the helminth infracommunity structures of small rodents inhabiting these regions. Studies have focused on the effects of grazing on coevolved plant and insect pollination communities and, more recently, on the effects of increasing commensalism of rodent communities and rodent-borne parasites
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