ABSTRACT
A study of the digenean parasites of anurans from a rainforest belt in Ozomo Community, Ovia- North East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria was undertaken. Anuran hosts examined included; Afrixalus dorsalis, Amietophrynus maculatus, Arthroleptis sp., Arthroleptis poecilonotus, Hemisus marmoratus, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Hyperolius concolor, H. fusciventris, Hyperolius species, Leptopelis occidentalis, L. spiritusnoctus, Ptychadena bibroni, Pty. longirostris, Pty. mascareniensis, Pty. oxyrhynchus, Pty. pumilio, Silurana tropicalis. Digenean parasites were recovered from the lungs, the small intestine and the large intestine. Three species of digenean parasites were recovered from 34 anuran hosts out of the 134 anuran hosts examined, thus the digenean infections had an overall prevalence of 25.37%. The study yielded the following species of digenean parasites: Diplodiscus fischthalicus, Haematoloechus micrurus and Mesocoelium sp. Ptychadena oxyrhynchus recorded the highest prevalence and mean intensity of 68.8% and 16.2, respectively and Arthroleptis poecilonotus recorded the lowest prevalence and mean intensity of 8.3% and 2.0, respectively while Afrixalus dorsalis, Amietophrynus maculatus, Arthroleptis sp, Hemisus marmoratus, Hyperolius concolor, Hyperolus fuscivetris, Hyperolus species, Leptopelis occidentalis, Leptopelis spiritusnoctis were not infected with digenean parasites. Therefore, this study reveals the presence of digenean infection in anuran hosts from Ozomo community.
