MOUSE-LIKE RODENTS AS FACULTATIVE HOSTS DICROCOELIUM DENDRITICUM (RUDOLPHI, 1819)

Abstract

In 2000–2018 helminthofauna of mouse-like rodents of the Samara Luka was studied. Dicrocoelium dendriticum is registered in 5 species: bank vole, yellow-throated mouse, small forest mouse, field mouse and house mouse in the Zhiguli reservation and the Mordovinsk flood plain. The mouse-like rodents are optional owners of the parasite. Rodents serve as natural reserves of Dicrocoelium dendriticumin the absence of obligate hosts in the biocenosis. Bank vole, yellow-throated, small forest, field and house mice are the new owners of the parasite. In 2000–2018 we studied the helminthofauna of mouse-like rodents in five points on the territory of the Samara Luka: Zhiguli Reserve (near the village of Bakhilova Polyana), Mordovin floodplain, Mordovo, the neighborhood of the villages of Big Ryazan and Tornovoe. Dicrocoelium dendriticum is noted only in the Zhiguli Reserve and the Mordovinskaya floodplain in rodents of 5 species: the bank vole, the yellow-throated, small forest, field and house mice, which are noted as new hosts of the parasite [1, 2]. House mouse was studied only in the Mordovo village (Mordovinskaya floodplain) in 2000. Rodent parasite infection rate was 13.3%; 0.4 spec. In 2001, in the Mordovino floodplain, Dicrocoelium dendriticum was recorded in small forest (1.5%; 0.6 ind.) and field (1.4%; 0.01 ind.) mice.