Endobiotic ciliates of Marwari horses from the Thar Desert, India

Abstract

This paper examines the species composition of endobiotic ciliates in the faecal samples from domestic Marwari horses (Equus caballus) from the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India. We discovered nine species of ciliates from the Cycloposthiidae, Buetschliidae, Blepharocorythidae, Spirodiniidae, and Paraisotrichidae families. We also emphasise that Marwari horses differ considerably from domestic horses in other geographical regions by the species composition of endobiotic ciliates. We assume that such difference may be due to their diet, which is largely based on peanut roughage.

Keywords

• symbiotic ciliates
• Trichostomatia
• Equus caballus
• Marwari horse
• Cycloposthium
• Blepharocorys