HELMINTHIC CENOSES OF THE EURASIAN BADGER (MELES MELES, L., 1758) IN THE NORTH-WESTERN CAUCASUS

Abstract

On the territory of the North-Western Caucasus from 2010 to 2022, 60 badgers from 3 landscape-geographical zones were studied by the method of complete helminthological dissection. The prevalence and intensity of invasion, abundance index and dominance index were calculated. Infection of badgers with helminths was 100%. Helminthic cenosis was represented by 20 species of parasitic worms from 4 classes Trematoda, Cestoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala, and 16 families. The detected helminths included 6 trematode species (30.0%), 3 cestode species (15.0%), 10 nematode species (55.0%) and one species of Acanthocephala (5.0%). Nineteen helminth species were found in the plain zone, 15 species in the foothill zone, and 9 species in the mountainous zone. The dominant trematode species was Euparyphium melis (the II average 32.0 specimens; AI 9.6; DI 16.5%). Subdominant species were Alaria alata (the II average 16.4 specimens; AI 5.5; DI 9.4%) and Pharyngostomum cordatum (II average 31.5 specimens; AI 3.1; DI 5.4%). The dominant cestode species was M. lineatus (II average 11.0 specimens; AI 5.1; DI 8.8%), and subdominant species was T. crassiceps (II average 7.3 specimens; AI 2.8; DI 4.8%). The dominant nematode species was U. stenocephala (II average 37.5 specimens; AI 17.5; DI 30.1%), and subdominant species were Molineus patens (II average 24.6 specimens; AI 4.5; DI 7.8%), and Thominx aerophilus (II average 7.6 specimens; AI 2.4; DI 4.1%). Analysis of the stomach contents of the badgers showed that a significant proportion of the diet consisted of animal feed which was present in the stomach of 90.0% of the examined animals. Fragments of rodents, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects, mollusks, and annelids were found in their stomach.