Parasitic Helminths of Two Weasel Species (Mustela itatsi and M. sibirica) from Central and Western Japan

Abstract

In total, 70 Japanese weasels (Mustela itatsi) and 12 Siberian weasels (M. sibirica) were collected from 16 and six prefectures, respectively, in central and western Japan from 1982 to 2002. Their parasitic helminths were investigated. One trematode species, Isthmiophora hortensis (Asada, 1926), and three nematode species, Gnathostoma nipponicum Yamaguti, 1941, Sobolyphyme baturini Petrow, 1930, and Dioctophyme renale (Goeze, 1782) were obtained from M. itatsi collected in Gifu and Aichi Prefectures, Tokyo and Hyogo Prefectures, Ishikawa, Fukui, and Kyoto Prefectures, and Hyogo Prefecture, respectively. An acanthocephalan, Centrorhynchus itatsinis Fukui, 1929 was also recovered from M. itatsi collected in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Mie, Shiga, and Kagoshima Prefectures and from M. sibirica collected in Mie and Shiga Prefectures. The present detection of S. baturini is the first record of this nematode species from M. itatsi. Other cases of the present helminths are new locality records of these species. Key words : Japan, Mustela itatsi, Mustela sibirica, parasitic helminths, Sobolyphyme baturini