Helminth fauna of anurans from the Guinea savanna at New Bussa, Nigeria.

As part of broader study on the helminth parasites of amphibians in the different biodimatic zones of Nigeria, a study of the helminth parasites of amphibians at New Bussa in the Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria was undertaken. Amphibian hosts examined included Burn regularis, B. maculatus, Dicroglossus occipitalis and Rana galamensis. The cestode Cylindrotaenia sp. was recovered from Burn regularis and B. maculatus. Monogeneans were represented by Eupolystoma alluaudi and Polystoma galamensis and trematodes by Haematoloechus exoterorchis, H. micrurus, Mesocoelium monodi and Diplodiscus fischthalicus. Nematode parasites included Rhabdias bufonis, Amplicaecum africanum, Camallanus dimitrovi, Cosmocerca ornata and the larvae of an ascaridoid nematode. Eupolystoma alluoudi, which has been shown to have low prevalence rates in other savanna locations, had high prevalence rates in B. regularis (68.4%) and B. maculatus (82.3%). A few Bufo specimens, which had over-dispersed infection with adult worms and the whole range of developing stages represented, confirm the internal cycle of re-infection already observed by other investigators for E. alluoudi in Bufo spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]