Nematodes and trematodes associated with terrestrial gastropods in Nottingham, England

Abstract

A parasitological survey of terrestrial slugs and snails was conducted at popular dog walking locations across the city of Nottingham, with the intensions of finding gastropods infected with parasites of medical (or veterinary) importance such as lungworm (metastrongyloid nematodes) and trematodes. A total of 800 gastropods were collected from 16 sites over a 225 km2 area. The extracted nematodes and trematodes were identified by molecular barcoding. Of the 800 gastropods collected, 227 were infected (172 had nematode infections, 37 had trematode infections and 18 had both nematode and trematode infections). Of the nematode infected gastropods genotyped, seven species were identified, Agfa flexilis, Angiostoma gandavense, Angiostoma margaretae, Cosmocerca longicauda, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, Phasmarhabditis neopapillosa and an unknown Cosmocercidae species. Of the trematode infected gastropods genotyped, four species were identified, Brachylaima arcuate, Brachylaima fuscata, Brachylaima mesostoma and an unknown Plagiorchioidea species. No lungworm species were found within the city of Nottingham. To our knowledge, this study represents the first survey of gastropod-associated nematodes and trematodes in the East midlands of the United Kingdom.

UrbanCepaea nemoralissnails are less likely to have nematodes trapped within their shells

“…In Wales, urban and suburban slugs are more, not less, likely to be infected by Angiostrongylus vasorum compared to rural ones (Aziz et al, 2016). By contrast, data from Andrus et al (2022) spanning urban and non-urban sites suggest that the prevalence of nematode infection may be slightly lower in urban molluscs, although they did not themselves analyze the effect of urbanization. Both studies however analyzed nematode prevalence in molluscs, not their abundance/availability in the urban environment.…”

Synopsis of gastropod-associated nematodes of Ciscaucasia (Russian Federation) with the description of a new species of Pellioditis Dougherty, 1953 (syn. Phasmarhabditis Andrássy, 1976)

“…The areas chosen for the survey were those with the richest gastropod populations, including the Stavropol Upland and western and central parts of Krasnodar Krai, covering areas of different altitude, climate, and vegetation. Several similar surveys have been carried out in Europe over the last decade, and a number of new species have been described that originated from European land gastropods (Ivanova et al 2013; Nermut’ et al 2016a, b, 2017; Singh et al 2019; Ivanova et al 2019; Andrus et al 2022). The pattern of gastropod–nematode associations was recorded in each study, and the set of taxa generally replicated that described by H. Mengert in Germany almost 70 years ago, and later described by S. Morand in France (Mengert 1953; Morand 1988).…”