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ABSTRACT
A two month investigation was conducted to study the helminth parasites of geckos from Uhogua, in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. This study was aimed at determination of the gecko diversity found in Uhongua community in Benin City, Edo state, as well as the helminth parasites they habour. A total of 23 geckos which were of two species; Hemidactylus angulatus and Hemidactylus mabouia were examined. They consisted of 17 males, 4 females and 2 juvenile. The geckos were randomly collected at night from a poultry farm situated close to a residential building by hand, after which they were transported to the laboratory where they were euthanized, dissected and examined for parasites. The following parasites were encountered during this study; one pentastomid; Raillietiella affinis, one cestode; Oochoristica sp., one trematode; Mesocoelium sp., and three species of nematodes namely; Strongyluris brevicaudata, Parapharyngodon awokoyai, and Thelandros scleratus. The most encountered parasite in this study was T. scleratus having an overall prevalence of 47.83% and a mean value of 1.75, while S. brevicaudata was least encountered, with an overall prevalence and mean value of 4.34% and 1.00 parasite per infected host respectively. Also, the male geckos had a higher prevalence of helminth infection of 82.35% compared to 75% prevalence in females. The difference in prevalence values was statistically significant (P<0.01). All the parasites recorded infected males of H. mabouia except T. scleratus which infected both male and female specimens examined. While in H. angulatus, it was only R. affinis and T. scleratus that infected both males and females. The other parasites infected only males of H. angulatus. The parasites recorded in this study have all been previously reported by other researchers from Uhogua and other localities in Edo state.
