Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T15:19:14.032Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Blood parasites of wild voles, Microtus agrestis, in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. R. Baker
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dennis Chitty
Affiliation:
Formerly Bureau of Animal Population, Department of Zoological Field Studies, University of Oxford
Ellen Phipps
Affiliation:
Formerly Bureau of Animal Population, Department of Zoological Field Studies, University of Oxford

Extract

1. Thirty-six of 70 Microtus agrestis captured near Oxford, England, between January and July, 1961, were infected with blood parasites—9 with Trypanosoma microti Laveran & Pettit, 1909, 18 with Babesia microtia (França, 1912) and 19 with Grahamella microti Lavier, 1921: some had more than one species.

2. Morphologically indistinguishable parasites were found in 6 of 20 Clethrionomys glareolus (Babesia in 3, Trypanosoma in 2, and Grahamella in 1) and 2 of 4 Apodemus sylvaticus (Grahamella only). Hepatozoon sp. indet. was found in one C. glareolus.

3. It is probable that the proportion of M. agrestis with patent infections of G. microti increased, and possibly that due to T. microti fell, during February–April, 1961.

4. M. agrestis often have very enlarged spleens and it appeared that B. microtia (sometimes associated with T. microti) was commoner in the animals with the largest spleens.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

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

REFERENCES

Chitty, D. (1958). Self-regulation of numbers through changes in viability. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 22, 277–80. (Vol. dated 1957.)Google Scholar
Coles, A. C. (1914). Blood parasites found in mammals, birds and fishes in England. Parasitology, 7, 1761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Janet (1956). Splenic hypertrophy in voles. Nature, Lond., 178, 1183–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elton, C., Ford, E. B., Baker, J. R. & Gardner, A. D. (1931). The health and parasites of a wild mouse population. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. pp. 657721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
França, C. (1912). Sur la classification des piroplasmes et description de deux formes de ces parasites. Arch. Inst. bact. Cam. Pest. 3, 1118.Google Scholar
Hagan, W. A. & Bruner, D. W. (1957). The Infectious Diseases of Domestic Animals, edn. 3.London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox.Google Scholar
Hoare, C. A. & Coutelen, F. (1933). Essai de classification des trypanosomes des mammifères et de l'homme basée sur leurs caractères morphologiques et biologiques. Ann. Parasit. hum. comp. 11, 196200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laveran, A. & Pettit, A. (1909). Sur un trypanosome d'un campagnol Microtus arvalis Pallas. C.R. Soc. Biol., Paris, 67, 798800.Google Scholar
Lavier, G. (1921). Hémogrégarines, Grahamella, spirochète et trypanosome du campagnol indigène Microtus arvalis Pallas. Bull. Soc. Path. exot. 14, 569–76.Google Scholar
Tyzzer, E. E. (1942). A comparative study of Grahamellae, Haemobartonellae and Eperythrozoa in small mammals. Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 85, 359–98.Google Scholar