Composition of parasite fauna of sheep contained within limited territories in the foothill zones of Armenia

Abstract

21 parasite species have been found in structure of variety of parasite species from hybrid sheep (mouflon × domestic sheep hybrids) contained within limited grazing territories of foothill zones of Armenia. These included 9 species of nematodes, 4 of cestodes, 3 of trematodes, 3 of ixodid ticks and larvae of nasopharyngeal gadfly Oestrus ovis and sheep ked Melophagus ovinus. An analysis of paths of circulation of larvae of some biohelminthes, particularly Dicrocoelidae and Protostrongylidae, realized through invertebrate intermediate hosts (land snails) have shown that mean infection of the latter varied from 2,5 to 8,0 %.

Keywords

• hybrid sheep
• infection
• parasites
• foothill zones
• armenia