THE PARASITIC FAUNA AND THE FOOD HABITS OF THE WILD JUNGLE CAT FELIS CHAUS FURAX DE WINTON, 1898 IN IRAQ | ||
| Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum | ||
| Article 1, Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2009, Pages 65-78 | ||
| Author | ||
| Mohammad K. Mohammad | ||
| Abstract | ||
| ABSTRACT A total of 72 specimens of the wild jungle cat Felis chaus furax De Winton, 1898 were examined for the purpose of this study. The results show that 55.6% of the sample harbored either single or mixed infections with ecto- and/ or endoparasites. The mode of infection shows that only four specimens( 5.6% of the total sample) acquire single infections, the double infections comprise 15.3%, the triple infections comprised 33.3%, while the quadruplicate infections comprised 1.4%. The systematic list of the parasites included six ectoparasites: Ctenocephalides felis (insect), Sarcoptes scabiei (mite), Haemaphysalis adleri, Rhipicephalus leporis, Rhipicephalus turanicus and Hyalomma anatolicum excavatum (ticks) and seven endoparasites: Filaria felis n. sp., F. melis, Toxocara canis (nematodes), Mesocestoides sp., Taenia crassiceps (cestodes), Heterophyes dispar (trematode), and Oncicola probably travassosi (acanthocephalan). The meal of this cat in Iraq as revealed by the stomach analyses includes a wide variety of invertebrate and vertebrate preys belonging to 48 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, crustaceans, mollusks and scorpions as well as some fragments of vegetable food. | ||
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