Term of Award
Summer 2023
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Stephen Greiman
Committee Member 1
Dmitry Apanaskevich
Committee Member 2
Scott Harrison
Abstract
Despite their high prevalence within shrews and other insectivorous mammals, cestodes in the order Cylophyllidea remain a largely understudied group. Shrews, given their diet of mostly arthropods, which act as intermediate hosts to many cestode parasites, are consistently infected with a diverse array of helminths. However, very little has been done to identify the global diversity of Sorex helminths. This is especially true for remote countries, like Mongolia. Therefore, as part of larger mammal and parasite survey project in Mongolia (summers of 2015 and 2016), 16 Sorex caecutiens and 4 Sorex isodon were captured and processed to obtain their helminths. Cestode species were identified through both morphological (staining and mounting) and molecular (COI and 28S gene sequencing) techniques. Results based on COI and partial 28S gene sequencing show a total of 7 unique taxa present within the two shrew species. Morphology suggests that 6 out of 7 taxa found are most likely to be previously undescribed species. Representatives of the genera Soricinia, Urocystis, Spalania, and Neoskrjabinolepis were found. Sorex isodon shrews were infected with an average of 2.5 cestode species, while Sorex caecutiens shrews were infected with a slightly lower average of 2.18 species. The possible influence of several host factors on the presence/absence of cestode species was also examined.
OCLC Number
1411235733
Catalog Permalink
https://galileo-georgiasouthern.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_GASOUTH/1r4bu70/alma9916565848902950
Recommended Citation
Moore, Nicholas C., "The Diversity of Hymenolepidid Cestodes Inhabiting Sorex caecutiens and Sorex isodon Shrews in Mongolia" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2629.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2629
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No