Species-specific features of Aonchoteca bursata and Baruscapillaria obsignata (Nematoda, Capillariidae), infecting domestic chickens (Gallus gallus dom.).

Abstract

Capillariids are a family of parasitic nematodes characterised by significant fluctuations of the taxo-nomic value of morphological features at the genus and species levels. Here, we present the results of a study identifying features of Baruscapillaria obsignata and Aonchoteca bursata, obtained from domestic chickens. Aside from the morphological differences in the studied capillariid species, sig-nificant differences in 14 metrical parameters of males and in 8 in females were found out. The com-parative metrical analysis of eggs revealed significant differences in 4 parameters between B. obsignata and A. bursata. According to the conducted analysis, metrical comparative indices may enhance and increase the effectiveness of species identification based on the species-specific features of males and females.

Keywords

• aonchoteca bursata
• baruscapillaria obsignata
• identification
• morphometric parameters
• parasitic nematode