Ecology and distribution of gastropod snails of medical and veterinary importance in Municipal Area Council, FCT, Abuja

Abstract

A study on the ecology and distribution of snails of medical importance was conducted in water bodies from four different communities (Old Karmo, Gwagwa, Deidei I and Deidei II) in Abuja Municipal Area Council, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria. Three species of snails; Bulinus globosus, Lymnaea natalensis and Melanoides tuberculata were identified. The total number and percentage of snails collected from the four sites were 309. Comprising of 56 (18.12%) from Old Karmo, 115 (37.22%) from Gwagwa, 78 (25.24%) from Deidei (I) and 60 (19.42%) from Deidei (II) respectively. Gwagwa and Deidei (I) recorded the predominant number of species encountered in the study. The following floras were identified from the study-sites; Megathyrsus maximus, Guinea grass and Commelina nigritana (African dayflower) were identified from the sampled water bodies. Findings indicate that favourable conditions exist in Abuja Municipal Area Council that supports the breeding of the snails which are intermediate hosts of medical/ veterinary importance under suitable physicochemical parameters which determines the extent of their population and distribution in the area.

Keywords: Ecology; snails; schistosomiasis; physico-chemical parameters; freshwater