Российский паразитологический журнал (May 2016)
Diversity and morphometric data of blood filarial larvae in carnivorous from Bulgaria
Abstract
During the period 2012-2013 investigations of blood samples from domestic dogs ( Canis familiaris ), goldon jackals ( Canis aureus ) and red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) origi- nated from different regions of Bulgaria were performed aiming to document diversity and morphometric characte- ristics of established filarial larvae. Following features of microfilariae were analyzed: peculiarities in the shape, body length and maximum body width. According to the morphological characteristics three types of larvae were observed. Larvae of the first type were with pointed ante- rior end and long, thin, straight and sharp tail; those of the second type were with obtuse anterior end and sharp tail, often ending as an umbrella handing; larvae of the third type were with obtuse anterior end and thin, sharp tail, in the most cases curved as a hook. Established filarial larvae were related to following species - Dirofilaria immi- tis, D. repens and Acanthocheilonema reconditum. The lengths of microfilariae of the dogs which we related to D. immitis ranged between 237 and 350 µm and mean value was 297 µm. Microfilariae’ length related to D. repens ranged from 305 to 420 µm (mean 365 µm) and those of А. reconditum were from 223 to 287 (mean 261) µm. In gol- den jackals length of microfilariae was from 253 to 344 (mean 309) µm for D. immitis and 224-285 (mean 250) µm for А. reconditum. In red foxes microfilariae’ length ranged as follows: from 246 to 320 (mean 281) µm for D. immitis, from 291 to 355 (mean 321) µm for D. repens and from 223 to 263 (mean 245) µm for А. reconditum
