Two hundred and fifty (250) Agama agama comprising of 160 males and 90 females caught in the wild were examined for infestation by parasites between August and November 2008. Three species of nematodes namely
Strongyluris brevicaudata, Parapharyngodon awokoyai and Foleyella candezei and one specie of cestode, Oochoristica truncata were recovered from the lizards. S. brevicaudata had the highest prevalence of infection (85.60%), followed by P. awokoyai (55.60%), O. truncata (6.80%) and then
F. candezei(2.00%). Male lizards had higher prevalence (86.87%) than female lizards (86.66%), although statistically, the difference was not significant (P = 0.05). Likewise, the adults had higher prevalence (94.76%) than the juveniles (57.62%) with no significant difference recorded (P = 0.05). F.candezei and O. truncata were not recovered from juvenile lizards. Prevalence of S. brevicaudata was higher in male lizards (86.25%) while prevalence of P. awokoyai. F. candezei and O. truncata were higher in female with 61.11%, 2.22% and 7.78% respectively at (p<0.05).The most frequent two species concomitant infection involved S. brevicaudata and P. awokoyai while the most frequent three species concomitant infection involved S. brevicaudata, P. awokoyai and O . truncata. Parasite abundance and their preferred sites/ location within the host were obtained. The rectum was the preferred site for S. brevicaudata (98.95%) and P. awokoyai (99.85%), the intestine was the preferred site for O. truncata
(89.04%) while F. candezei (76.19%) preferred the body cavity. S. brevicaudata, P.awokoyai and F.candezei are reported from South East Nigeria for the first time.
Bank: GTBank
Account Name: Prince Orafu
Account Number: 0109980866
Bank: Diamond Bank
Account Name: Prince Orafu
Account Number: 0065070861
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