First parasitological data of golden jackal (Canis aureus moreoticus I. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 1835) in Friuli Venezia Giulia region (FVG)

INTRODUCTION: The golden jackal (Canis aureus moreoticus) is an expanding mesocarnivore in europe and its presence in northeastern Italy has been documented since the 1980s (lapini et al., 2009. boll mus civ St nat venezia, 60: 169-86), consolidating its presence over the time and, therefore, constantly monitored both from the ecological and health perspective. In fact, its biology and behavior create premises for their infection with a broad range of pathogens, including parasites. Therefore, over the past 10 years, road-killed golden jackals in fvG have also been exploited for endoparasites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Carcasses of 47 golden jackals were collected throughout fvG, frozen before examination, and submitted to biometric analysis, necropsy and parasite collection by total worm count. Parasites were morphologically identified and, in selected cases, molecularly analysed. faecal samples were collected from carcasses and parasitological analyses were performed, using znSo4 centrifugation flotation. descriptive statistic, including prevalence, mean intensity, mean abundance, and richness were calculated for each parasite species. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: among the examined jackals, 91.5% were infected with at least one parasite species (range 1-6). a total of 17 endoparasite species were found, among which the nematodes Uncinaria stenocephala (25.5%), Toxocara canis (19.1%), the cestodes Taenia hydatigena (21.3%) and Mesocestoides lineatus (2.8%), and digenean trematode Alaria alata (12.8%) were the most prevalent parasites in the gut, Angiostrongylus vasorum (16.3%) and Crenosoma vulpis (9.3%) in the lung and Capillaria plica (76%) in urinary bladder. other helminths identified were: Aonchotheca putorii (10.6%) in the stomach, Molineus patens (8.5%), Trichuris vulpis (6.4%), Pterigodermatitis affinis (6.4%), Toxascaris leonina (2.1%), Metagonimus yokogawai (8.5%), Dipylidium caninum (2.1%), Taenia pisiformis (2.1%) in the gut; Crenosoma vulpis (9.3%) and Eucoleus aerophilus (2.3%) in the lung. faeces collected from carcasses (no.= 22) presented generally elements attributable to the identified endoparasites, also 59% were positive for Sarcocystis sp.. This study represents the first survey on golden jackal endoparasites in Italy. The parasitofauna of fvG golden jackal population is almost overlapping with that reported in other european countries (Gherman and mihalca, 2017. Parasit vectors, 10: 419). The fvG-jackal parasitic biocenosis is good in number of species, even if the prevalence and mean intensity of infrapopulations is generally low. The finding of M. yokogawai, to the best of our knowledge, represents the first report in golden jackals in Italy, as well as A. vasorum confirming that jackals could be a definitive host (gravid females and larvae there were), as already demonstrated in europe (Takács et al., 2014. acta vet hun, 62: 33-41; Gavrilović et al., 2017. acta Parasitol, 62: 880-84). Investigating the parasitofauna of wild canides is needed to monitor the spread of zoonoses.