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- Title
Ectoparasite loads in sympatric urban populations of the northern white-breasted and the European hedgehog.
- Authors
Dziemian, Sylwia; Sikora, Bożena; Piłacińska, Barbara; Michalik, Jerzy; Zwolak, Rafał
- Abstract
We investigated abundance and prevalence of ticks and fleas infesting urban populations of two species of hedgehogs: the northern white-breasted hedgehog ( Erinaceus roumanicus) and the European hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus). The hedgehogs were captured in the city of Poznań (western Poland) over the period of 4 years. Both species of hedgehogs were infested with the castor bean tick ( Ixodes ricinus), the hedgehog tick ( Ixodes hexagonus), and the hedgehog flea ( Archeopsylla erinacei). The northern white-breasted hedgehog had higher loads of I. ricinus and A. erinacei than the European hedgehog. The abundance and prevalence of I. hexagonus were similar on both species of hosts. Co-infestation with the two species of ticks was more frequent on the northern white-breasted hedgehog than on the European hedgehog. Therefore, these two closely related species of hedgehogs differ in their importance as hosts of arthropod vectors of pathogens in urban areas and might play a different role in the dynamics of zoonotic diseases.
- Subjects
POZNAN (Poland); HEDGEHOGS; ECTOPARASITES; PARASITIC diseases; DISEASE prevalence; CASTOR bean tick; ZOONOSES; DISEASES
- Publication
Parasitology Research, 2015, Vol 114, Issue 6, p2317
- ISSN
0932-0113
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00436-015-4427-x