IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Pence, D.B.; Tewes, M.E.; Laack, L.L. | |
| Helminths of the Ocelot from Southern Texas | |
| 2003 Journal of Wildlife Diseases (39): 683-689 | |
In the USA, the ocelot (_Leoparduspardalis_) is a highly endangered felid found only in a few remaining vestiges of native thornshrub brushland in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of extreme southern Texas. From 1987-1998, carcasses of 15 adult ocelots that died of vehicular accidents or natural causes were examined for helminths. All cats had 18 (mean = 3) helminth species. All were infected with 1-101 (meanñSE = 32ñ7) _Toxascaris leonina._ Other helminths from these ocelots were _Alaria marcianae_, _Brachylaima _sp., _Mesocestoides lineatus_, _Taenia rileyi_, _Oncicola canis_, _Dirofilaria immitis_, _Physaloptera rara_, _Ancylostoma tubaeformae_, _Cylicospirura chevreuxi_, _Vogeloides felis_, and _Metathelazia californica_. Additionally two cats had scarring of the aorta with lesions typical of those caused by _Spriocerca lupi_, although larval nematodes were not seen. A clinal variation in size of nearly three orders of magnitude was noted in the diplostomatid trematodes in the small intestine of one adult male ocelot. Despite the differences in size, all specimens appeared morphologically identical and were regarded as _A. marcianae_. Helminth prevalences and abundances, including those of potentially pathogenic species like _D. immitis_, were low. Although a single heartworm infection may have contributed to the death of one ocelot, helminth infections in general seemed to be of no great consequence to this endangered ocelot population. The helminth fauna of ocelots in the LRGV is reflective of that from wild felids in general; all have been reported previously from the bobcat (_Lynx rufus_) and mountain lion (Puma concolor) elsewhere in Texas. |
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