Endoparasitic fauna of two South American foxes in Chile: Lycalopex culpaeus and Lycalopex griseus

Abstract

Native foxes face serious threats related to anthropic activities and the uncontrolled pets. However, the transmission of several pathogens such as parasites by domestic dogs is an important conservation issue with limited attention in Chile. The lack of a proper identification of the helminths of wild canids in the country, based mostly in coprological studies, limited our knowledge in potential interspecific transmission. Thus, the aim of the present survey was to identify the parasitic fauna of two native canids, the Andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) (n=49) and Chilla (Lycalopex griseus) (n=17), from several localities in Chile through a complete parasitological survey. Sixteen different species were identified, 9 of which are new host records for Andean fox and two for Chilla fox in South America, and three are recorded for first time in Chile. Also, five of them are of zoonotic concern and six are known to use domestic dogs as their principal hosts. These findings have implications for public health and the conservation of canids whose interspecific transmission of parasites with domestic dogs is confirmed through these findings. The need for an exhaustive surveillance of wild carnivores is emphasized considering these hosts as important sources of micro- and macroparasites.

Large-scale survey for canine vector-borne parasites in free-ranging dogs and foxes from six diverse bioclimatic regions of Chile

“…Acanthocheilonema reconditum was previously described in Chile, both in dogs (Alcaíno and Gorman, 1999) and in Andean foxes (Oyarzún-Ruiz et al, 2020). Herein, we only detected filarial worms in a small proportion of a large sample size of dogs and foxes, which agrees with reports worldwide (Ionicǎ et al, 2017;Otranto et al, 2019).…”

“…Up to date, the knowledge about the presence of VBPs in Chilean canine populations is circumscribed to the description of Trypanosoma cruzi in dogs (Correa et al, 2020), and diverse nematode species in dogs and foxes (López et al, 2012;Oyarzún-Ruiz et al, 2020). A survey in Darwin's foxes from southern Chile failed to detect the most relevant VBPs, probably explained by the climatic conditions of the study area (Cabello et al, 2013).…”

Parasitic fauna of the invasive house sparrow (Passer domesticus) from Ñuble region, Chile: an example of co-introduced parasites

“…Regarding the helminth preparation, acanthocephalans were cleared in a temporary preparation with glycerin alcohol for at least 24 hours. Meanwhile, tapeworms were stained using Alum carmine stain, dehydrated in a series of alcohol concentrations (70%, 80%, 96%, and 100%), cleared in clove oil, and mounted onto slides using Canada balsam (Lutz et al, 2017;Oyarzún-Ruiz & González-Acuña, 2020). Acanthocephalans were identified according to the approaches detailed by Petrochenko (1958), Yamaguti (1963), and Amin & Dailey (1998).…”

Morphological and molecular evidence of Oslerus osleri (Nematoda: Filaroididae) in the Andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus)

“…In South America, O. osleri has been found in wild canids from Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, including the Andean (L. culpaeus) and Chilla foxes (Lycalopex griseus) (Oyarzún-Ruiz et al, 2020). However, many of these studies are ambiguous because they lack an adequate morphological diagnosis (Dias et al, 2012;Varela-Arias et al, 2014).…”