First record of Heligmosomoides neopolygyrus in Serbia

Abstract

Heligmosomoides nematodes are frequent intestinal parasites of rodents, primarily mice and voles. The common species H. polygyrus is closely related to the highly prevalent nematodes infecting humans. It is assumed that the Asian species H. neopolygyrus arrived in Europe with its host Apodemus agrarius, and the presence of this nematode was first rec-orded in a striped field mouse in Poland in 2014. We present a preliminary report of two A. agrarius from the Special Nature Reserve Koviljsko-petrova-radinski rit and Kameničko Island in Serbia, which were found to be in-fected with H. neopolygyrus. Current research is based on phylogenetic analyses of cyt b sequences of Heligmosomoides isolated from Apodemus species. Preliminary results showed clustering of sequences isolates from A.agrarius from this study with those of H. neopolygyrus from A. agrariusfrom Poland, but also with H. polygyrus from A. agrarius (Poland) and A. ura-lensis (Russia). Due to the great morphological similarities of H. polygyrusand H. neopolygyrus, some specimens may have previously been misiden-tified as H. polygyrus, which is why the presence of H. neopolygyrus on theEuropean continent was only recently established. The most significantmorphological difference between the two species is seen in the proximalsection of external dorsal rays of the male's copulatory bursa, which is fili-form in H. neopolygyrus and swollen in H. polygyrus. The use of molecularmarkers may overcome the problems of morphological misidentificationin the future. Considering the biology and ecology of other Apodemus spe-cies, as well as voles, the presence of H. neopolygyrus can be expected inthese hosts as well.