Masenia nkomatiensis, Dumbo, Dos Santos & Avenant-Oldewage, 2019

Jos, Dumbo, e Chissiua, Gilbert, Beric Michael, Annemarie & Avenant-Oldewage, 2020, Oxidative stress biomarkers in the African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, associated with infections by adult digeneans and water quality, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 12, pp. 232-241 : 236

3.2. Infection biology of M. nkomatiensis and G. pedatum

A total of 1024 digeneans were collected and identified as being adults of M. nkomatiensis (731) and G. pedatum (293) specimens. Statistically, monthly intensity for M. nkomatiensis (ANOVA F 9, 141 = 8.33, p <0.001) and G. pedatum (ANOVA F 9, 143 = 9.72, p <0.001) showed significant difference with highest mean intensity, for both parasites, in February (rainy season) ( Fig. 3 ). In four specimens (three in dry and one in rainy seasons), hosts were found to be co-infected by both digeneans and this did not show any seasonal pattern due to low number of co-infected hosts. The effect of host attributes on the intensity of parasites showed that host size and body condition did not significantly correlate with intensity of G. pedatum and M. nkomatiensis (p> 0.05) (Table 1). Additionally, pairwise test showed insignificant differences in digenean intensity between male and female hosts ( G. pedatum, Mann-Whitney U = 2837, p = 0.084; M. nkomatiensis, Mann-Whitney U = 2674, p = 0.536).

Figures

Fig. 3. Monthly variation of prevalence (%), mean intensity and mean abundance. A– Masenia nkomatiensis; B– Glossidium pedatum. NC – no collection was performed.