Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T20:19:10.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Helminth communities of the autochthonous mustelids Mustela lutreola and M. putorius and the introduced Mustela vison in south-western France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

J. Torres*
Affiliation:
Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII s/n, E-08028Barcelona, Spain
J. Miquel
Affiliation:
Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII s/n, E-08028Barcelona, Spain
P. Fournier
Affiliation:
GREGE, Route de Préchac, F-33730Villandraut, France
C. Fournier-Chambrillon
Affiliation:
GREGE, Route de Préchac, F-33730Villandraut, France
M. Liberge
Affiliation:
Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Service de parasitologie - zoologie, 23, chemin des Capelles, 31300Toulouse, France
R. Fons
Affiliation:
Centre d'Écologie Méditerranéenne, Laboratoire Arago, Université Paris VI, 66650Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
C. Feliu
Affiliation:
Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII s/n, E-08028Barcelona, Spain
*
*Fax: +34 93 402 45 04 E-mail: jtorres@ub.edu

Abstract

This study presents the first comprehensive helminthological data on three sympatric riparian mustelids (the European mink Mustela lutreola, the polecat M. putorius and the American mink M. vison) in south-western France. One hundred and twenty-four specimens (45 M. lutreola, 37 M. putorius and 42 M. vison) from eight French departments were analysed. Globally, 15 helminth species were detected: Troglotrema acutum, Pseudamphistomum truncatum, Euryhelmis squamula, Euparyphium melis and Ascocotyle sp. (Trematoda), Taenia tenuicollis (Cestoda), Eucoleus aerophilus, Pearsonema plica, Aonchotheca putorii, Strongyloides mustelorum, Molineus patens, Crenosoma melesi, Filaroides martis and Skrjabingylus nasicola (Nematoda) and larval stages of Centrorhynchus species (Acanthocephala). The autochthonous European mink harboured the highest species richness (13 species) followed by the polecat with 11 species. The introduced American mink presented the most depauperate helminth community (nine species). The prevalence and worm burden of most of the helminths found in M. putorius and M. lutreola were also higher than those of M. vison. Some characteristics of their helminth communities were compared to relatively nearby populations (Spain) and other very distant populations (Belarus). This comparison emphasized M. patens as the most frequent parasite in all of the analysed mustelid populations. It was possible to conclude that the invasive M. vison contributes to the maintenance of the life cycle of the pathogenic T. acutum and S. nasicola helminths, with possible implications for the conservation of the endangered European mink.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R.C. (2000) Nematode parasites of vertebrates; their development and transmission. 650 pp. Wallingford, Oxon, CAB International.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anisimova, E.I. (2002) Comparative analysis of the helminthocoenoses of the otter (Lutra lutra) and polecat (Mustela putorius) in Belarus. Helminthologia 39, 8790.Google Scholar
Aymerich, M., Márquez, M.D. & López-Neyra, M. (1983) Primeros datos sobre el nematodo parásito Skrjabingylus nasicola en España. III Congreso Nacional de Parasitología, Barcelona, p. 131.Google Scholar
Barrault, P., Arlot, P., Crabos, F., Ducournau, Y., Girard, A., Joubert, L., Laborde, J-P., Mozzi, R., Lalanne, J-J., Sabathé, F., Trichet, S. & Fournier, P. (2003) The control on the feral American mink (Mustela vison) population of south-western France: methodology and preliminary results. Congreso internacional sobre la conservación del Vison europeo, Logroño (la Rioja, Spain).Google Scholar
Bradbury, K. (1977) Identification of earthworms in mammalian scats. Journal of Zoological Society of London 183, 553555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A.O., Lafferty, K.D., Lotz, J.M. & Shostak, A.W. (1997) Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chanin, P. & Linn, I. (1980) The diet of the feral mink (Mustela vison) in southwest Britain. Journal of Zoological Society of London 192, 205223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordero del Campillo, M., Castañón-Ordóñez, L. & Reguera-Feo, A. (1994) Indice catálogo de zooparásitos ibéricos. Secretariado de Publicaciones, Universidad de León.Google Scholar
Fournier, P., Maizeret, C., Jimenez, D., Chusseau, J.P., Aulagnier, S. & Spitz, F. (2007) Habitat utilization by sympatric European mink Mustela lutreola and polecats Mustela putorius in south-western France. Acta Theriologica 52, 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fournier-Chambrillon, C., Aasted, B., Perrot, A., Pontier, D., Sauvage, F., Artois, M., Cassiede, J.M., Chauby, X., Dal Molin, A., Simon, C. & Fournier, P. (2004) Antibodies to Aleutian mink disease parvovirus in free-ranging European mink (Mustela lutreola) and other small carnivores from southwestern France. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 40, 394402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gotea, V. & Kranz, A. (1999) The European mink (Mustela lutreola) in the Danube Delta. Small Carnivore Conservation 21, 2325.Google Scholar
Hammershøj, M., Thomsen, E.A. & Madsen, B. (2004) Diet of free-ranging American mink and European polecat in Denmark. Acta Theriologica 49, 337347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koubek, P., Barus, V. & Koubkova, B. (2004) Troglotrema acutum (Digenea) from carnivores in the Czech Republic. Helminthologia 41, 2531.Google Scholar
Léger, F. & Ruette, S. (2005) Le vison d'Amérique, une espèce qui se développe en France. Résultat d'une enquête nationale réalisée en 1999. Faune Sauvage 266, 2936.Google Scholar
Libois, R. (2001) Etude préliminaire du régime alimentaire du vison d'Europe (Mustela lutreola) dans le sud-ouest de la France. Rapport préliminaire de la seconde phase. Bohallard Puceul, France, Société Française pour l'Etude et la Protection des Mammifères: 12.Google Scholar
Lodé, T. (1990) Le régime alimentaire d'un petit carnivore, le putois (Mustela putorius) dans l'ouest de la France. Gibier Faune Sauvage 7, 193203.Google Scholar
Lodé, T. (1991) Evolution annuelle du régime alimentaire du putois Mustela putorius L. en fonction de la disponibilité des proies. Bulletin d'Ecologie 22, 337342.Google Scholar
Lodé, T. (1993) Diet composition and habitat use of sympatric Polecat and American Mink in western France. Acta Theriologica 38, 161166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maizeret, C., Migot, P., Rosoux, R., Chusseau, J.P., Gatelier, T., Maurin, H. & Fournier-Chambrillon, C. (2002) The distribution of the European mink (Mustela lutreola) in France: towards a short term extinction? Mammalia 66, 525532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maran, T. & Henttonen, H. (1995) Why is the European mink, Mustela lutreola, disappearing? A review of the process and hypotheses. Annales Zoologici Fennici 32, 4754.Google Scholar
Maran, T., Macdonald, D.W., Kruuk, H., Sidorovich, V.E. & Rozhnov, V.V. (1998 a) The continuing decline of the European Mink Mustela lutreola: evidence for the intraguild aggression hypothesis. pp. 297324in Dunstone, N. & Gorman, M. (Eds) Behaviour and ecology of riparian mammals. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maran, T., Kruuk, H., Macdonald, D.W. & Polma, M. (1998 b) Diet of two species of Mink in Estonia: displacement of Mustela lutreola by M. vison. Journal of Zoology 245, 218222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaux, J.R., Hardy, O.J., Justy, F., Fournier, P., Kranz, A., Cabria, M., Davison, A., Rosoux, R. & Libois, R. (2005) Conservation genetics and population history of the threatened European mink Mustela lutreola, with an emphasis on the west European population. Molecular Ecology 14, 23732388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mission Vison d'Europe, (2003) Plan National de Restauration du Vison d'Europe. 1999–2003. Bilan, Direction Régionale de l'Environnement/Aquitaine.Google Scholar
Palazón, S. & Ruíz-Olmo, J. (1997) El visón europeo (Mustela lutreola) y el vison americano (Mustela vison) en España. Colección Técnica. Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales. 133 pp.Madrid, Spain, Ministerio del Medio Ambiente.Google Scholar
Palazón, S., Ceña, J.C., Mañas, S., Ceña, A. & Ruíz-Olmo, J. (2002) Current distribution and status of the European mink (Mustela lutreola L., 1761) in Spain. Small Carnivore Conservation 26, 911.Google Scholar
Roger, M., Delattre, P. & Herrenschmidt, V. (1988) Le putois (Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758). pp. 138Encyclopédie des Carnivores de France. Vol. 15. Bohallard Puceul, France, Société Française pour l'Etude et la Protection des Mammifères.Google Scholar
Ruette, S., Léger, F., Albaret, M., Stahl, P., Migot, P. & Landry, P. (2004) Enquête sur la répartition de la Martre, de la Fouine, de la Belette, de l'Hermine et du Putois en France. Faune Sauvage 263, 2834.Google Scholar
Ruíz-Olmo, J., Palazón, S., Bueno, F., Bravo, C., Munilla, I. & Romero, R. (1997) Distribution, status and colonization of the American mink Mustela vison in Spain. Journal of Wildlife Research 2, 3036.Google Scholar
Schreiber, A., Wirth, R., Riffel, M. & Rompaey, H.V. (1989) Weasels, civets, mongooses and their relatives: an action plan for the conservation of mustelids and viverrids. 99 pp. Gland, Switzerland, The World Conservation Union.Google Scholar
Shimalov, V.V. & Shimalov, V.T. (2001) Helminth fauna of the American mink (Mustela vison Schreber, 1777) in Belorussian Polesie. Parasitology Research 87, 886887.Google ScholarPubMed
Sidorovich, V.E. (1992) Comparative analysis of the diets of European Mink (Mustela lutreola), American Mink (M. vison), and the Polecat (M. putorius) in Byelorussia. Small Carnivore Conservation 6, 24.Google Scholar
Sidorovich, V.E. (2000 a) The on-going decline of riparian Mustelids (European Mink, Mustela lutreola, Polecat, Mustela putorius, and Stoat, Mustela erminea) in eastern Europe: a review of the results to date and an hypotheses. pp. 295319in Griffiths, H.I. (Ed.) Mustelids in a modern world. Leiden, Backhuys Publishers.Google Scholar
Sidorovich, V.E. (2000 b) Seasonal variation in the feeding habits of riparian Mustelids in river valleys of NE Belarus. Acta Theriologica 45, 233242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidorovich, V.E. & Anisimova, E.I. (1997) Peculiarities of helminthocenoses in the American mink population inhabiting a severely polluted river ecosystem (the Svisloch river, Belarus). Helminthologia 34, 4552.Google Scholar
Sidorovich, V.E. & Bychkova, E.I. (1993) Helminth infestation in a declining population of European mink (Mustela lutreola) in Belarus. Small Carnivore Conservation 9, 1617.Google Scholar
Sidorovich, V.E., Kruuk, H., Macdonald, D.W. & Maran, T. (1998) Diets of semi-aquatic Carnivores in northern Belarus, with implications for population changes. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 71, 177190.Google Scholar
Torres, J., Feliu, C., Miquel, J., Casanova, J.C., García-Perea, R. & Gisbert, J. (1996) Helmintofauna de Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758 (Carnivora: Mustelidae) en la Península Ibérica. Bolletí de la Societat d'Història Natural de les Balears 39, 155165.Google Scholar
Torres, J., Mañas, S., Palazón, S., Ceña, J.C., Miquel, J. & Feliu, C. (2003) Helminth parasites of Mustela lutreola (Linnaeus, 1761) and M. vison Schreber, 1777 in Spain. Acta Parasitologica 48, 5559.Google Scholar
Torres, J., Miquel, J., Mañas, S., Asensio, V., Eira, C. & Palazón, S. (2006) Cranial helminths of Mustela vison Schreber, 1777 in Spain. Veterinary Parasitology 137, 379385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tumanov, I.L. (1999) The modern state of European Mink (Mustela lutreola L.) populations. Small Carnivore Conservation 21, 911.Google Scholar
Weber, D. (1989) The diet of polecats (Mustela putorius L.) in Switzerland. Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 54, 157171.Google Scholar
Wroot, A.J. (1985) A quantitative method for estimating the amount of earthworms (Lumbriscus terrestris) in animal diet. Oikos 44, 239242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar