SURVEY OF HELMINTH PARASITES OF ANURANS IN OKADA COMMUNITY, A PERI-URBAN ENVIRONMENT OF OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE.

ABSTRACT

Amphibians of a peri-urban habitat, Okada in Edo State, Nigeria were surveyed for helminth parasites. A total of 25 anuran specimens of 6 species were examined which included Arthroleptis poecilonotus, Amietophrynus maculatus, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Arthroleptis spp, Amnirana albolabris and Hemisus marmoratus. 5 species of helminth parasite which belong to two classes Trematoda and Nematoda were recorded in this survey. The parasites recovered included Trematodes: Metahaematolechus micrurus and M. exoterochis; Nematodes: Aplectana mackintoshi, Cosmocerca ornata, and Rhabdias africanus.Among the anurans examined, H. occipitalis harboured the highest number of parasites. The prevalence of parasites varied with the most appreciable being 57.1% R. bufonis followed by 27.3% for C. ornata were recorded.The mean intensity also had a different trend, the highest being 43 for M. micrurus followed by 12 for M. exoterochis were recorded. Aplectana. mackintoshi which has been reported only once in Nigeria (Oghenekume, 2016) was recorded in this study, thereby confirming the presence of the parasite in the country. This would be the first report on helminth parasitic infection of amphibians in a peri-urban environment, Okada in Edo State, Nigeria. The low yield of parasites in this work was probably due to the partial alteration of the environment making it uninhabitable for most of the invertebrate fauna that are responsible for parasite transmission.