TY - JOUR ID - 169911 TI - Epidemiological study and identification of some flea species infesting wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and cape hares (Lepus capensis) in northern Algeria JO - Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Sciences JA - IJVS LA - en SN - 1607-3894 AU - Ammam, Imene AU - Rahal, Mohamed AU - Rahal, Karim AU - Bitam, Idir AD - Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment, Interactions, Genome, University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumedienne, Algiers, Algeria AD - Department of Biology, University of Yahia Fares of Medea, Algeries, Algeria AD - Institute of Veterinary Sciences, University of Blida, Blida, Algeria Y1 - 2022 PY - 2022 VL - 36 IS - 1 SP - 159 EP - 165 KW - Algeria KW - Cape hare KW - ectoparasites KW - Fleas KW - Wild rabbit KW - infestation DO - 10.33899/ijvs.2021.129596.1665 N2 - Wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and cape hare (Lepus capensis) are hosts for different flea species and have high medical and veterinary importance, fleas of wild leporids are of special concern since they can act as vectors for diseases, including zoonoses. This study was designed to identify flea species infesting these animals with the description of their epidemiology and the assessment of factors influencing their infestation importance in five provinces located in northern Algeria, to evaluate their implication in the transmission of pathogens. In total, 86 wild leporids were checked from July 2014 to September 2020. Fleas were collected from the fur of animals with tweezers and identified using appropriate keys. The findings showed that 32/86 (37.2%) of animals were infested with fleas. Four flea’s species were identified on cape hares Ctenocefalides felis (51.06% of fleas identified), Ctenocefalides canis 34.04%, Spilopsyllus cuniculi 10.63%, and Archaeopsylla erinacei 4.25%,with a seasonal peak in December. The same, four flea species were found parasitizing wild rabbits Spilopsyllus cuniculi 90.7%, Ctenocefalides felis 4.65%, Ctenocefalides canis 2.32%, and Pulex irritans 2.32%,with the highest importance in March and April. Moreover, this study showed no influence of female gestations on the rate of flea hare infestations. However, S cuniculi rate was correlated with the breeding cycle of the wild rabbits. These findings revealed that, the temperature and the humidity can be important factors that influence on wild leporids flea infestation. UR - https://www.vetmedmosul.com/article_169911.html L1 - https://www.vetmedmosul.com/article_169911_366cfc8905ba6bda3e34bf6c6970d1a7.pdf ER -