Prakas Petras, Stirkė Vitalijus, Šneideris Donatas, Rakauskaitė Paulina, Butkauskas Dalius, Balčiauskas Linas
Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jun 23;13(13):2087. doi: 10.3390/ani13132087.
Small mammals are an important group of wildlife that can transmit pathogens to humans and animals. There is a lack of comprehensive studies on the protozoan parasites of the genus in agricultural areas. The aim of the current research was to evaluate the prevalence of spp., and to identify the parasite species found in the skeletal muscles of rodents and insectivores from commercial orchards. A total of 679 muscle samples from small mammals, mainly rodents (n = 674), belonging to eight species were examined. Muscle samples were pooled into groups, then digested, and the presence of the species was confirmed by molecular methods. The examined parasites were determined in five rodent species, , . , , , and . . The prevalence of spp. was low: 2.23% in voles and 0.79% in mice. Based on a sequence comparison of and rDNA, four species were identified: . , cf. , sp. Rod1, and sp. Rod2. This is the first report of . in . , . , and . The identified species were most closely related to spp., and were transmitted by predatory mammals and birds. Future studies are needed to describe the species morphologically, as well as to define the host spectrum and to evaluate their possible pathogenicity.
小型哺乳动物是一类重要的野生动物，可将病原体传播给人类和动物。在农业地区，对该属原生动物寄生虫缺乏全面研究。当前研究的目的是评估某属物种的流行情况，并鉴定在商业果园的啮齿动物和食虫动物骨骼肌中发现的寄生虫种类。共检查了来自8个物种的679份小型哺乳动物肌肉样本，主要是啮齿动物（n = 674）。将肌肉样本分组后进行消化，通过分子方法确认某物种的存在。在所检查的寄生虫中，在5种啮齿动物物种中检测到，分别是……。某属物种的流行率较低：田鼠中为2.23%，小鼠中为0.79%。基于某基因和核糖体DNA的序列比较，鉴定出4个物种：……、……、Rod1种和Rod2种。这是在……、……和……中首次报道某物种。鉴定出的物种与某属物种关系最为密切，由掠食性哺乳动物和鸟类传播。未来需要进行研究，从形态学上描述这些物种，确定宿主范围，并评估它们可能的致病性。
