Ecto- and endoparasites in remaining population of wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (L., 1758) in east Bohemia

• Main Authors: Vladimír Bádr, Marie Borkovcová
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mendel University Press 2005-01-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis
• Subjects: ectoparasites; endoparasites; wild rabbit; <i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>
• Online Access: https://acta.mendelu.cz/53/4/0007/

An investigation of ecto- and endoparasites of wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (L., 1758) was made during February and March 2004. Together five species of ectoparasites and seven species of endopara- sites was found in five specimens of host. Ectoparasites: acarids Leporacarus gibbus (Pagenstecher, 1862), Psoroptes cuniculi (Delafond, 1859), and Cheyletiella parasitivorax (Mégnin, 1878), flea Spilopsyllus cuniculi (Dale, 1878), and louse Haemodipsus ventricosus (Denny, 1842). Except of petechial haemorrhagies inside both earlobes of one rabbit neither hyperkeratosis nor scale with any degrees of hairlessness were detected. Higher incidence of flea Spilopsyllus cuniculi could be important for spreading of myxomatosis. In one rabbit abnormal damage of incisivi was found, which caused the highest documented incidence of acarids Cheyletiella parasitivorax (485 ex.), fleas Spilopsyllus cuniculi (65 ex.), and especially enormous amount of louse Haemodipsus ventricosus (1840 ex). This finding establish close relation between prevalence and counts of ectoparasites with health of host, because popu- lation of ectoparasites from different taxonomic groups are principally affected by effective hostęs cleanup. Handicapped hosts are not able to make clarify as effective as the healthy ones. Endoparasites: tapeworm Taenia pisiformis (Bloch, 1780) – larvae, nematods Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819) Rudolphi, 1845; Graphidium strigosum (Dujardin, 1845) Railliet and Henry, 1909, Trichostrongylus retortaeformis (Zeder, 1800) Loos, 1905 and protozoa Eimeria piriformis Kotlan &amp; Pospesch, 1934; E. media Kessel, 1929, and E. perforans (Leuckart, 1879) Sluiter &amp; Swellengrebel, 1912. All endoparasites were found in very low or middle intensity, which does not seem to be main cause of decreasing number of wild rabbits in monitored areas.