Some Data on Endoparasites of Common Mole in Lithuania

Abstract

To study common mole (Talpa europaea L., 1758) infection with endoparasites 59 individuals trapped in five localities of Lithuania in 1999–2001 were examined. All common moles were examined by the method of total helminthological autopsy, skeletal muscles of 45 and brains of 25 animals being additionally studied by microscopic examination of stained and native preparations. The prevalence of infection was established to be 91.5%. The number of helminth species detected in mole digestive and internal organs totalled 13: Omphalometra flexuosa, Dilepis undula, Staphylocystis bacillaris, Tricholinstowia talpae, T. linstowi, Parastrongyloides winchesi, Capillaria sp., C. incrassata, Porrocaecum sp., P. depressum, Agamospirura minutissima, and unidentified larvae – ‘larva 1’. and ‘larva 2’. Capillaria sp. eggs were detected in the spleen. Common moles were most often infected with adult T. talpae and C. incrassata nematodes and nematode larvae of Porrocaecum sp. and ‘larva 1’. There were free and encapsulated nematode larvae of the Spirurata suborder found in 48.9% of the investigated skeletal muscles and in 36% of the examined brain samples. The A. minutissima species is supposed to have been dominant in these tissues. The highest intensity of infection up to 2,168 with ‘larva 2’ was found. Protists of the Sarcocystis and Frenkelia genera (Protista, Coccidia) were not recorded in any of the cases of common mole diaphragm, skeletal muscle or brain investigation.