First molecular description of gastrointestinal parasites of fat dormouse (Glis glis)

The fat dormouse (Glis glis L.) is a small arboreal rodent from the family of Gliridae. The species is autochthonous in Croatia and traditionally trapped for meat consumption, use of fat in traditional medicine and for fur. The only previous research of its parasites in Croatia used animals from the alpine Gorski kotar area, and identified nematode Paraheligmonina gracilis and cestode Hymenolepis sulcata. The goal of our research was to identify parasites present in the gastrointestinal tract of the fat dormouse from the hunting ground no. XVII/135 Vrgoračko jezero (Dalmatinska zagora – the Mediterranean part of Croatia). The digestive system of 32 fat dormice was examined and the collected parasites were identified using both morphological and molecular methods. A total of 96.9% of the dormice were infected; P. gracilis occurred in 96.9%, and H. sulcata in 25.0% of the samples, always in co-infection with P. gracilis. The Chi-squared test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the total infection with P. gracilis compared to H. sulcata. The odds ratio (OR) showed that the infection with H. sulcata is 1.4 times more likely to occur in male than in female dormice. We isolated DNA and sequenced the P. gracilis rDNA regions ITS1 and ITS2 and H. sulcata ITS2 and the mitochondrial DNA COI region. DNA sequences of these parasites were not previously published, making this the first molecular description of P. gracilis and H. sulcata, which will help in resolving their taxonomic positions and phylogeography. These sequences will also be a valuable tool for distinguishing H. sulcata from H. nana and H. diminuta, which cause a globally widespread zoonosis – human hymenolepiasis, a serious concern for public health in many developing and underdeveloped countries.