ABSTRACT

A survey of the helminth parasites of amphibians was carried out in Ikpoba Hill Reservoir, Upper Lawani Community in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The study was carried out during the months of February and March, 2021. The amphibians were collected by hand at night using Visual Acoustic Encounter Survey (VAES) between the hours of 7pm and 12pm. A total of 39 specimens of amphibians were examined for parasites. The amphibians examined include Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Silurana tropicalis, Ptychadena mascariniensis, P. pumillio and P. bibroni. An overall prevalence of 82.1% parasitic infection was recorded in the amphibian species. A total of 14 parasites species were recovered and they include Polystoma pricei, Mesocoelium monodi, Metahaematoloechus exoterochis, Halipegus sp., Diplodiscus fischthalicus, Amplicaecum sp., Aplectana sp., Camallanus dimitrovi, Cosmocerca ornata, C. commutata, Chabaudus leberrei, Rhabdias sp., Ascaridoid larvae and an unidentified nematode species. A total of 16 male amphibian hosts were examined in this study out of which 14 were infected giving an overall prevalence of 87.5% infection. This study provides a baseline for further research on the parasites of amphibians from Ikpoba Hill Reservoir, Upper Lawani Community in Edo State, Nigeria.