Rare Equine Internal Parasite Found in North America

A rare strongyles parasite was found in North America, noted a recently published scientific paper. Researchers associated with this paper said that horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules are infected “by a diversity of gastrointestinal nematode parasites, including 64 species of equine strongyle nematodes from 19 genera. Despite numerous surveys of horse strongyles worldwide, certain geographic regions and rare species remain understudied.”

Rare Parasite

The researchers noted that, “In 1964, a new strongyle species was described from a donkey in Beijing, China, and named Cylicocyclus pekingensis. Later, this parasite was recorded in horses from the Ural region of Kazakhstan and reclassified as Hsiungia pekingensis, a single representative of a separate genus. Since it has not been reported elsewhere, this species is considered extremely rare, and very little is known about its prevalence, biology, and geographical distribution.”

The study results noted that this the first record of H. pekingensis in North America.

“In conclusion, the discovery of H. pekingensis in North America expands its known distribution and prompts a reevaluation of its geographical range. The newly generated molecular data helps clarify its taxonomic position and will aid in identifying the species in new geographical regions and hosts globally. Additionally, the detailed redescription and microscopic images provided here are invaluable for future identification efforts and species classification. We believe that this work encourages further studies on the identification, distribution, genetic diversity, and taxonomic positions of rare equine strongyles worldwide.”

From the Research

The rare strongyles adult specimens were recovered from fecal samples of a domestic horse in Alberta, Canada, following treatment with ivermectin, noted the research.

“Re-analysis of public equine nemabiome datasets further detected H. pekingensis in feral horses in Alberta, but not in other regions considered” noted the researchers. “This study expands the known distribution of this rare species and enhances our knowledge of its placement in the phylogeny of equine strongyles. Furthermore, our re-analysis of public nemabiome datasets highlights the value of this approach for studying the global distribution of parasite species.”

This open-access research was titled, “First record of Hsiungia pekingensis (Nematoda: Strongylidae) in North America: Morphological and molecular identification of a rare equine strongyle.” It was authored by Sina Mohtasebi, S. Ahn, B. Rosa, K. Moyes, T. A. Kuzmina, J.S. Gilleard, and J. Poissant.