ABOMASAL NEMATODES IN GOATS FROM THE SUBTROPICAL ISLAND OF GRAND-CANARY (SPAIN)

The prevalence of gastric nematodes in 151 goats on Grand Canary Islan d is around 56%, with a mean burden of 691 worms/animal. No significan t differences of prevalence and intensity were found between the four isoclimatic areas of the island [dry-desert (DD); dry-steppe (DS); tem perate-mild (TM); temperate-cold (TC)]. Five nematode species were ide ntified, the most commonly-occurring being Teladorsagia circumcincta ( observed in 65.8% of parasitized animals) and Trichostrongylus axei (5 1.9%). The distribution of the two species showed opposing trends. T c ircumcincta was more prevalent in the coastal areas (DD), diminishing in frequency closer to the centre of the island (TC), while the revers e was true of T axei. The other species identified were Haemonchus con tortus, T trifurcata and Camelostrongylus mentulatus; their ranges wer e restricted to certain areas (H contortus in DS and TM; T trifurcata in DD, DS and TM; and C mentulatus in DD). To analyse the parasite ass ociation under natural conditions of an unusual nematode in goats, C m entulatus, with the usual parasites a principal component analysis (PC A) was used to assess the overall behaviour of the nematode community and to examine the Euclidean distances of the parasite associations. T he mean Euclidean distances obtained for C mentulatus showed a tendenc y to a positive association which has also been observed for the other abomasal nematodes.