The Role of Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in the Transmission of Sarcocystis Species from Farm Animals and Wild Cervids

The Role of Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in the Transmission of Sarcocystis Species from Farm Animals and Wild Cervids

Naglis Gudiškis¹, Donatas Šneideris¹, Evelina Juozaitytė-Ngugu¹, Petras Prakas¹, Dalius Butkauskas¹

¹Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

naglis.gudiskis@gmail.com

Sarcocystis are unicellular protozoan parasites that infect various animals through a two-host life cycle. They develop sarcocysts in different tissues of their intermediate hosts (IH), which can lead to significant economic losses when these hosts are farm animals. The parasites are transmitted by definitive hosts (DHs), usually predators and scavengers. In Lithuania, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) are among the most common wild canids, noted for their adaptability to various environmental conditions. These predatory mammals, along with other members of the Canidae and Felidae families, play a key role in spreading various parasites. Limited data exist on the role of these canids in transmitting Sarcocystis parasites, thus this study examined their involvement in Lithuania.

During 2021–2023, intestinal samples of 13 hunted red foxes and 12 raccoon dogs were collected and subjected to molecular analysis using a nested PCR and sequencing of the cox1 gene. Based on the results, 14 different Sarcocystis species were identified: S. arieticanis and S. tenella (IH: sheep), S. bertrami (IH: horses), S. capracanis (IH: goats), S. miescheriana (IH: pigs and wild boars), S. alces, S. capreolicanis, S. gracilis, S. hjorti, S. iberica, S. linearis, S. morae, S. taeniata, and S. venatoria (IH: Cervidae). The preliminary results indicate that red fox is more common in the distribution of Sarcocystis species whose IHs are farm animals compared to raccoon dog. These findings indicate that both the red fox and raccoon dog are significant in the spread of Sarcocystis species, whose IHs are farm animals and wild cervids.