E. Kitamura et al., METAZOAN PARASITES OF SIKA-DEER FROM EAST HOKKAIDO, JAPAN AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF THEIR ABOMASAL NEMATODES, Journal of wildlife diseases, 33(2), 1997, pp. 278-284
Metazoan parasites of 50 sika deer (Cervus nippon yezoensis) collected
in March 1991 in the Ashore District in east Hokkaido, Japan, were ev
aluated. Ten species of helminths and three species of ectoparasites w
ere obtained. Estimated abundance of males of two species of abomasal
nematodes, Spiculopteragia houdemeri and Rinadia andreevae, were posit
ively correlated with each other, and were overdispersed; S. houdemeri
followed Poisson's and R. andreevae followed a negative binomial dist
ribution. No significant relationship was detected between the estimat
ed abundance of males of these two nematode species and nutritional co
ndition of tile hosts. Using a general linear model, the fourth-root t
ransformed estimated abundance of male S. houdemeri was influenced by
the main effects of host sex and age. This phenomenon was attributable
to the ecological and behavioral features of tile deer. The low diver
sity of the abomasal nematode community was regarded as the result of
the extinction of some species of nematodes on Hokkaido Island.