PertanikaJ. Trap. Agric. Sci. 16(2): 107-110 (1993) ISS : 0126-6128© Universiti Pertanian Malaysia Press

New Host Records of Parasites in the Malayan Red Jungle Fowl,Gallus gallus spadiceus

C.C. LEE and S.M. AMIN-BABJEEFaculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science,

Universiti Pertanian Malaysia,43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Keywords: New host records, parasites, Malayan red jungle fowl.

ABSTRAK

Tiga puluh spesies parasit telah dijumpai di dalam tujuh ekor ayam hutan merah Malaya jantan dewasa Gallusgallus spadiceus dari Ulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Lima belas daripada spesies parasit adalah rekod barubagi perumah ini, iaitu Pseudolynchia canariensis, Eimeria sp., Trichomonas gallinarum, Ascaridiagalli, Capillaria annulata, Capillaria contorta, Cardiofilaria nilesi, Dispharynx spiralis, Gongylonemasp., Heterakis gallinarum, Tetrameres fissispina, Hymenolepis cantaniana, Raillietina cesticillus, R.tetragona dan Postharmostomum gallinum. Parasit yang paling biasa terdapati ialah spesies nematodHeterakis dan Capillaria.

ABSTRACT

Thirty species of parasites were recovered from seven adult male Malayan red jungle fowls Gallus gallusspadiceus from Ulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Fifteen species of the parasites are newly recorded for this host;they are Pseudolynchia canariensis, Eimeria sp., Trichomonas gallinarum, Ascaridia galli, Capillariaannulata, Capillaria contorta, Cardiofilaria nilesi, Dispharynx spiralis, Gongylonema sp., Heterakisgallinarum, Tetrameres fissispina, Hymenolepis cantaniana, Raillietina cesticillus, Raillietina tetragonaand Postharmostomum gallinum. The most common parasites are the nematode species of Heterakis andCapillaria.

INTRODUCTION

The Malayan red jungle fowl, Gallus gallusspadiceus is one of the four species ofjungle fowlfound in the Indian subcontinent and SouthEast Asia. It is regarded as the ancestor of thedomestic fowl (Gallus domesticus) due to itswidespread distribution. The other three spe­cies of jungle fowl are the grey jungle fowl(Gallus sonneretii) , the Ceylonese jungle fowl(Gallus lafayetti) and the green jungle fowl (Gallusvarius) (Beebe 1926; ishida et al.1985).

There are several reports on parasites of theMalayan red jungle fowl (Chin et al. 1974;Dissanaike and Fernando 1974a, 1974b;Fernando and Dissanaike 1975; Amin-Babjee etal. 1985; Lee et al. 1985a, 1985b; Lee et al. 1989a,1989b; Lee and Amin-Babjee 1990). In the caseof the Ceylonese jungle fowl, Ascaridia galli,Raillietina tetragona and Eimeria praecox are theonly parasites recorded (Rysavy et al. 1973;

Long et al. 1974), whereas in the grey junglefowl Lemdana sonneretta is the only parasite re­corded (Ali 1969). The objective of this studywas to compile a check-list of all species of para­sites collected from the Malayan red jungle fowl.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Seven red jungle fowls were obtained from DIuLangat district, Selangor State, Malaysia. Onethin blood film was prepared directly on a cleanglass slide and about 2 ml of blood was collectedin a heparinised tube from each bird. The thinfilms were dried at room temperature, fixed inmethanol and stained in 10% Giemsa-buffersolution in a coplin jar. From the heparinisedblood, direct wet smears were made and exam­ined for any active parasites like microfilaria ortrypanosome and if negative for microfilaria,Knotts blood concentration technique was per­formed to verify it.

C.c. LEE D S.M. AMI -BABJEE

Mter autopsy, the feathers were soaked in70% alcohol for any ectoparasite. The intestinesand organs were opened separately with scissorsand soaked in normal saline ( S) for helminths.Helminths collected were rinsed twice in NS andrelaxed in hot 70% alcohol (for nematodes);wrapped around glass slides (for cestodes) or

placed between glass slides (for trematodes),tied loosely with rubber bands and fixed in hot70% alcohol. The eyes, ears and skin weresearched grossly for parasites. Rectal faeceswere processed and floated with saturated so­dium chloride for ova or oocysts.

Parasite

TABLE 1Parasites from the Malayan red jungle fowls

Site

examined

o of birds

infected

ARTHROPODSLipeurus caponis (lice) plumage 7Menopon gallinae (lice) plumage 7Megninia cubitalis (mites) plumage 7Pseudolynchia canariensiS* (hippoboscids) plumage 7

PROTOZOAEimeria sp* faeces 7Plasmodium gallinaceum blood 7Trichomonas gallinarum* caecum 7

NEMATODESAscaridia galli* small intestine 7Capillaria annulata* crop 7Capillaria contorta* gizzard 7Capillaria obsignata caecum 7Cardiofilaria nilesi* body cavity 7Dispharynx spiraliS* proven triculus 7Gongylonema sp. * crop 7Heterakis berampona caecum 7Heterakis gallinarum* caecum 7Lemdana latifi body cavity 7Lemdana sonneretta body cavity 7Oxyspirura mansoni eye 7Pelecitus galli base of leg 7Strongyloides avium small in testine 7Tetrameres fissispina* proventriculus 7

CESTODESAmoebotaenia cuneata duodenum 7Davainea proglottina duodenum 7Hymenolepis cantaniana* small intestine 7Raillietina cesticilluS* small intestine 7Raillietina echinobothridia small intestine 7Raillietina tetragona* small intestine 7

TREMATODESPostharmostomum gallinum* caecum 7Tanaisia vietnamensis kidney 7

* ew host records

1421

111511235313111

341341

21

108 PERTANIKAJ. TRap. AGRIe. SCI. VOL. 16 0.2,1993

EW HOST RECORD OF PARASITES IN THE MALAYAN RED JUNGLE FOWL

Parasites were gathered by using thestereomicroscope. Mites were mounted inHoyers medium, nematodes in lactophenol andcestodes/ trematodes stained with acid-alum-car­mine for identification under a compound mi­croscope.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Thirty species of parasites have been recoveredfrom the red jungle fowl. Fifteen of the speciesfrom the present study are considered newrecords for this host. The new host records arePseudolynchia canariensis, Eimeria sp., Trichomonasgallinarum, Ascaridia galli, Capillaria annulata, C.contorta, Cardiofilaria nilesi, Dispharynx spiralis,Gongylonema sp., Heterakis gallinarum, Tetrameresfissispina, Hymenolepis cantaniana, Raillietinacesticillus, R. tetragona and Postharmostomum

gallinum.Twenty other species of parasites reported

by Amin-Babjee et al. (1985) were not observedin this study. They are Haemaphysalis wellingtoni,Neoschongastia gallinarum, Megninia cubitalis,Menopon gallinae, Lipeurus caponis and Gonoidesdissimilis (all arthropods) ; Plasmodium gallinaceum,Plasmodium juxtanucleare and Leucocytozoon sabrazesi(protozoa); Heterakis berampora, Capillariaobsignata, Lemdana sp., Tetrameres crammi,Cheilospirura hamulosa, Syngamus trachea andStrongyloides avium (nematodes), Mediorhynchusgallinarum (acanthocephala); Raillietinaechinobothrida, Amoebotaenia sp. and Davainea sp.(cestodes); Tanaisia vietnamensis andHeterophyginae family (both trematodes). Theirabsence in this study may be due to the largernumber of fowls studied (16) from a wider area(Banting, Dengkil and Kajang) by Amin-Babjeeet al. (1985) as compared to only seven birdsfrom DIu Langat district in the present study.

There was only a single specimen of the flyPseudolynchia canariensis encountered from oneof the birds. This fly is commonly present inpigeons but may exist in some wild birds (Soulsby1986) .

The few oocysts seen in the rectal faeces ofone of the jungle fowls were identified as that ofEimeria sp. Morphologically they were small,ovoidal and without micropyle. They may besimilar to some of the species of coccidia foundin domestic chicken since species of jungle fowlin Asia are considered to be the ancestors of thedomestic fowl (Long et al. 1974).

The single nematode Gongylonema was notidentified down to the species level because nomale specimen was available for the purpose.

However, this study corresponds to an ear­lier study in which the most common parasiteswere the nematodes Heterakis (H. beramporia andH. gallinarum) and Capillaria (c. annulata, C.contorta and C. obsignata) (Amin-Babjee et al.1985) .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Dean, Faculty of Veteri­nary Medicine and Animal Science, Head ofDepartment of Veterinary Pathology and Micro­biology, Puan Jamilah Hj. Abdul Rahman andMsJosephine Low for their encouragement, tech­nical assistance and processing of the manu­script respectively.

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(Received 27 April 1993)

110 PERT IKAJ. TRap. AGRIC. SCI. VOL. 16 0.2,1993