Helminths of rabbits (Lagomorpha, Leporidae) deposited in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute

Abstract

Helminth samples (n = 35) recovered from Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758) Lilljeborg, 1873 (3) and from another rabbit species, Sylvilagus brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758) Thomas, 1901 (32), from August 1909 to February 1948 and that are deposited in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute were analyzed. The studied samples were represented by the cysticercus of the cestode Taenia pisiformis (Bloch, 1780) and by the nematodes Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819), Vianella fariasi (Travassos, 1915), Longistriata perfida Travassos, 1943, Trichostrongylus retortaeformis (Zeder, 1800). The scope of the present investigation is to survey the parasites infecting these hosts, commonly used as laboratory animal models in scientific research and supply figurative data on the helminths in order to provide their easy identification, since the presence of autochthonous parasite burdens, if undetected or misinterpreted, can alter the final results of experimental assays, mainly those related to immunological approaches, when cross-reactions can occur.