Diversity of anurans and their gastrointestinal helminth parasites within the University of Ibadan and environs, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Anurans play a crucial role as bio-indicators of environmental changes in their ecosystem and their parasite populations can act as markers of environmental health since changes in their population may be related to changes in the quality of their environment. Therefore, this study was carried out to explore the anurans’ diversity and their gastrointestinal helminths parasites within the University of Ibadan campus in order to ascertain the richness of the in the environment. A total of 225 anurans were captured using a combination of live capture sampling techniques and auditory-visual methods from four sampling locations within University of Ibadan,  namely- Awba Dam, Heritage Park, Awba-Stream, and Ona River. The collected anurans were identified and examined for gastrointestinal parasites using standard protocols. Five anuran species; Sclerophrys maculate, S. pusilla, S. regularis, S. steindachneri and Bufo bufo were encountered and all were infected with parasites. Cephaloclamys compactus, Aplectana chamaeleonis and Ophidascaris (Trematoda), Pharyngodon and  Kalicephalus (Nematoda) and Acanthocephalus bufonis (Acanthocephalan) were identified parasites. Ona River had the highest anuran diversity having all the five encountered amphibians. This study has provided valuable insight to anurans diversity including prevalence and intensity of their parasite.