title: Cercopithifilaria rugosicauda (Spirurida, Onchocercidae) in a roe deer and ticks from southern Italy.
abstract: Cercopithifilaria rugosicauda (Spirurida, Onchocercidae) is a subcutaneous filarial nematode of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) transmitted by Ixodes ricinus (Acari, Ixodidae). At the necropsy of a roe deer from the Parco Regionale di Gallipoli Cognato (Basilicata region, southern Italy), two female nematodes of C. rugosicauda were found. Following the necropsy, seven skin snips were sampled from different body regions and 96 I. ricinus ticks were collected. In addition, 240 ticks were collected by dragging in the enclosure where the roe deer lived. Samples were examined for the presence of C. rugosicauda larvae and assayed by PCR targeting cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1, ∼300 bp) and 12S rDNA (∼330 bp) gene fragments. Female nematodes, microfilariae from skin samples and eight third stage larvae (L3) from ticks were morphologically and molecularly identified as C. rugosicauda. Phylogenetic analyses clustered this species with other sequences of Cercopithifilaria spp. This study represents the first report of C. rugosicauda in a roe deer and ticks from Italy and provides new morphological and molecular data on this little known nematode.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Rafael Antonio Nascimento
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giannelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy ; Department of Immunology, Centro de Pesquisa Aggeu Magalhaes, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: Filipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dantas-Torres
authors.affiliation: Parco Regionale Gallipoli Cognato, Piccole Dolomite Lucane, Matera, Italy.
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mallia
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Passantino
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo Paolo
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Lia
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Stefania
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Latrofa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Yasen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mutafchiev
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otranto
keywords: Capreolus capreolus; Cercopithifilaria rugosicauda; Ixodes ricinus; Roe deer