Open AccessNotes on three new parasites of the striped hamster ( Cricetulus griseus )
Publication year - 1926
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1926.0059
Subject(s) - hamster , biology , parasite hosting , zoology , fauna , leishmania , transmission (telecommunications) , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , world wide web , computer science , electrical engineering , engineering
In the course of our experiments various natural parasites of the hamster have been observed, in addition to the usual intestinal fauna, and we append a brief description of three of these,Trypanosoma cricetuli , n. sp.,Grahamella cricetuli , n. sp., andSarcocystis cricetuli , n. sp. On the whole, this animal is remarkably free from ectoparasites, for during the examination of more than 800 hamsters we have only found them on two occasions.Hæmatopinus sp. was found in very large numbers on one emaciated individual, but, although it doubtless occurs on a small percentage of these animals, we have never succeeded in finding it again. Young and Hertig (1925) attempted to transmitLeishmania by means of this louse, but failed to obtain any evidence either of transmission or of development of the parasite in the alimentary canal of the insect. These results, combined with the rarity of this ectoparasite, indicate that in using the hamster for experiments on the transmission ofLeishmania, Hæmatopinus may be neglected as complicating factor.