Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:37:56.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The incidence of Anoplocephaline cestodes in a population of rabbits in Surrey, England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. R. Mead-Briggs  and
J. A. Vaughan
A. R. Mead-Briggs
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Pest Infestation Control Laboratory, Tangley Place, Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey
J. A. Vaughan
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Pest Infestation Control Laboratory, Tangley Place, Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Samples of approximately five wild rabbits were obtained each week over the 4-year period 1967–70, and their intestines examined for adult tapeworms. Pour species of anoplocephalinae were found, Cittotaenia pectinata, C. denticulata, C. ctenoides and Andrya cuniculi. C. pectinata was found in 29% of the 968 rabbits examined, C. denticulata in 14%, C. ctenoides in 12% and A. cuniculi in 6%. There were 63 double infections, of which 44 involved A. cuniculi, and three triple infections. The most frequent number of worms per infection was one for C. pectinata and A. cuniculi and two for C. denticulata and C. clenoides, although the mean numbers for these species were respectively 7·2, 5·3, 2·7 and 1·8.A. cuniculi, and to a lesser extent C. ctenoides, were very restricted in distribution within the study area, occurring only on the higher, chalk downland (250–550 ft A.S.L.). This finding implies that individual rabbits usually spend their lives within relatively small areas.Considering all the material a seasonal trend in host infection rate was apparent only with C. denticulata, which increased in abundance from July to a peak in September and then declined gradually to a low level, lasting from April to June. Infections, including small specimens of any of the four species, were rare from February to June and it is presumed that infected intermediate hosts were correspondingly rare during this period. Except for C. denticulata, which was found more frequently in male rabbits than females, the sex of the host had no influence on its likelihood of infection. However, except for C. pectinata, the age of the host was important. Thus, C. denticulata and A. cuniculi were significantly more frequent in juveniles than adults whilst the reverse was true for C. ctenoides. Small (‘young’) specimens of C. denticulata and A. cuniculi were more frequent in juvenile than adult rabbits, but the difference was not significant for the other two species. It is concluded that only C. ctenoides survives for more than a year and that this species and C. pectinata are more likely to infect rabbits that are adult than are the other two species.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 67 , Issue 3 , December 1973 , pp. 351 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arnold, J. G. (1938). A study of the anoplocephaline cestodes of North American rabbits. Zoologica. Scientific Contributions of the New York Zoological Society 23, 31–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dammin, G. J. (1937). The rapid preparation of tapeworm proglottids for diagnostic and teaching purposes. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 23, 192–4.Google Scholar
Evans, W. M. R. (1940). Observations upon some common cestode parasites of the wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. Parasitology 32, 78–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
John, D. D. (1926). On Cittotaenia denticulata (Rudolphi, 1804), with notes as to the occurrence of other helminthic parasites of rabbits found in the Aberystwyth area. Parasitology 18, 436–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, F. G. (1933). Studies on Cittotaenia pectinata (Goeze, 1782) from the common rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. Part 1. Anatomy and histology. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London pp. 239–52.Google Scholar
Stunkard, H. W. (1941). Studies on the life history of the anoplocephaline cestodes of hares and rabbits. Journal of Parasitology 27, 299–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wisniewski, W. L., Szymanik, K. & Bazanska, K. (1958). The formation of a structure in tapeworm populations. Ceskoslovenska parasitologie 5 (2), 195–21.Google Scholar