Helminth infections of urban hibernating Nyctalus noctula groups (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in Belarus.

Abstract

The city of Brest is one of the places in southwestern Belarus where common noctules Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774) spend the winter. The aim of the study is to investigate the helminth infection of urban hibernating groups of this species of bats. The bat carcasses were subjected to a post-mortem examination. Organs and tissues compression was used to examine 26 of common noctules three groups that died in Brest city during the hibernation period from causes beyond our control. All of the examined common noctules were infected with helminths. Eight species of helminths were found: 4 species of trematodes, 1 species of cestode and 3 species of nematodes. Six species were localized in the intestine, 1 species in the stomach and larvae of 1 species in the wall of the stomach. More often, the common noctule was infected with the nematode Molinostrongylus skrjabini Skarbilovich, 1934 (92.3%), the trematodes Paralecithodendrium chilostomum (Mehlis, 1831) (88.5%), Lecithodendrium linstowi Dollfus, 1931 (84.6 %) and Plagiorchis koreanus Ogata, 1938 (84.6%). The finding represents the first record of the trematode P. koreanus in bats in Belarus. The results further represent the first record of N. noctula as host for larvae of nematode Physaloptera myotis (Babos, 1954) in Belarus.