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19 August 2020 Endoparasites of the endemic Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus
Samantha Ball, Thomas C. Kelly, Fidelma Butler
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus is an endemic subspecies of Mountain hare and Ireland's only native lagomorph. The endoparasite community composition of the Irish hare was examined from 22 carcasses opportunistically sourced from wildlife strike events (with aircraft and vehicles) from three counties in the Republic of Ireland. Three parasite taxa were identified from the stomach and small intestines: Trichostrongylus retortaeformis, Graphidium strigosum and a tapeworm belonging to the genus Mosgovoyia. Overall, 50% of hares examined were host to at least one endoparasite taxon and 18% were host to more than one taxon. There was no significant correlation between parasite burden and host weight. This is the first known study of endoparasites in the Irish hare.

© 2020 The Authors. This is an Open Access article This work is licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). The license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Samantha Ball, Thomas C. Kelly, and Fidelma Butler "Endoparasites of the endemic Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus," Wildlife Biology 2020(3), (19 August 2020). https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00717
Accepted: 7 July 2020; Published: 19 August 2020
KEYWORDS
ecology
gastrointestinal helminths
Ireland
mountain hare
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