Eucoleus contortus (Nematoda: Capillariidae), a parasite of Cairina moschata domestica (Anseriformes: Anatidae) on Marajó Island, Pará State, in Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

The family Capillariidae is one of the most important in the superfamily Trichinelloidea, with 27 genera and more than 300 species parasitizing vertebrates. This study considers the morphology, morphometry and prevalence of Eucoleus contortus parasitizing the Muscovy duck Cairina moschata domestica esophagus from Marajó Island, in State of Pará, Brazil. Morphologically the nematodes had a filiform body, with transversely striated cuticle, long esophagus, divided into two parts, one muscular and another consisting of stichocytes, spicule weakly sclerotized, spiny sheath and pseudobursa present in males. Females had a pre-equatorial vulva, barrel-shaped eggs and were bioperculated. In the northern region of Brazil, the Muscovy duck is an abundant bird, and one of the items in the food supply for human communities. The occurrence of E. contortus adds data to the biodiversity of parasites described in Anseriform birds of the Brazilian Amazon, especially those used as source of protein by human communities of Marajó.

Lesions caused by anisakid and capillariid in Cairina moschata raised on Marajó island, state of Pará, Brazil

“…Histopathological changes caused by the presence of Eucoleus contortus, Anisakis sp., Contracaecum sp., are recorded herein for the first time in our research parasitizing the esophagus and ventricle of Muscovy duck in Brazil. These birds raised without confinement, look for food in areas of rivers or lakes, with no selectivity in feeding (Meulen and Dikken, 2003), which may justify the presence of these anisakid and capillary nematodes in birds (Carvalho et al, 2019(Carvalho et al, , 2020. Different studies have been carried out in order to characterize the parasitic fauna of ducks around the world.…”

Diversity of endohelminths parasitizing bred Muscovy ducks Cairina moschata domestica (Anseriformes: Anatidae) from the eastern Brazilian Amazon

“…The organs are placed in airtight bags, identified and transported in an isothermal box containing ice. In the laboratory, all the duck parts were weighed in a balance (Ramuzatron 15 BAT, Brazil), and organs were separated, individualized, and placed in Petri dishes with NaCl 0.9% solution and examined in less than 24 h, using a stereomicroscope (LEICA-ES2) using ampliation from 5 x (Carvalho et al 2019). The contents of the lumen and wall were individualized in Petri dish and analyzed separately using a stereomicroscope (LEICA-ES2) using ampliation from 5 x.…”

“…Although ducks have great physical resistance, they are susceptible to disease because they are particularly prone to infections caused by parasitic helminths (Gower 1939;Mattos-Junior et al 2008). However, the helminth infections of the Muskovy ducks C. moschata domestica have been poorly studied (Carvalho et al 2019), despite possible losses in terms of reduced body growth and mortality in breeding, as well as the presence of helminths with zoonotic potential. Carvalho et al (2020) described the first report of Anisakis sp.…”

“…Infection by nematodes, cestodes and trematodes has been reported for C. moschata domestica (Table 1), although only a few studies have been carried out with domestic animals (Muhairwa et al 2007;Mattos-Junior et al 2008;Carvalho et al 2019Carvalho et al , 2020 2016). As there are few studies about helminths in C. moschata domestica, the knowledge related to diversity of these parasites is consequently limited, and the community structure of endohelminths is unknown so far.…”

External and gastrointestinal parasites of the Franklin’s Gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan (Charadriiformes: Laridae), in Talcahuano, central Chile

“…Eucoleus contortus (Creplin, 1839) (Enoplida: Capillariidae) was collected from the esophagus of three individuals, with 10% (3/30) prevalence ( Table 2). This nematode is frequently found in the esophagus of a wide variety of aquatic birds such as gulls, grebes, cormorants and ducks in Europe (Bosch et al, 2000;Sanmartín et al, 2005;Álvarez et al, 2006;Santoro et al, 2011), North America (Fedynich et al, 1997;Threlfall et al, 1982), Asia (Yoshino et al, 2009), and South America (Brazil and Chile) (Monteiro et al, 2011;González-Acuña et al, 2017;Carvalho et al, 2019). Eucoleus contortus was reported for the first time in Chile parasitizing Podiceps occipitalis (Podicipedidae) (González-Acuña et al, 2017); it is suspected that it could be an accidental infestation because of sharing the habitat with potential hosts.…”