The paper presents the results of research on the parasitic fauna of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778) in the Southern region of the Republic of Moldova. This area hosts a diversity of 12 parasitic species, classified into 3 phyla: Nematoda, Platyhelminthes, and Apicomplexa, as well as in 4 taxonomic classes: Cestoda, Trematoda, Secernentea, and Gonoidasida. Within the class Cestoda, one species was identified, Cysticercus pisiformis (Zeder, 1803); in Trematoda, two species were described: Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758) and Dicrocoelium lanceolatum (Rudolphi, 1919); in Secernentea, six species were found, namely: Trichocephalus leporis (Frölich, 1789), Strongyloides papillosus (Wedl, 1856), Trichostrongylus retortaeformis (Zeder, 1800), Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819), Trichostrongylus probolurus (Railliet, 1896), and Trichuris leporis (Frölich, 1789); and in the class Gonoidasida, 3 species of Eimeria were identified: Eimeria leporis (Nieschulz, 1923), Eimeria stiedae (Lindemann, 1865), and Eimeria intestinalis (Cheissin, 1948). Among the identified helminths, two species — Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758) and Dicrocoelium lanceolatum (Rudolphi, 1919), are known to have the potential to parasitize humans as well. The research revealed that parasitic agents were present in 100% of the collected samples. Regarding the infestation typology, 45 samples (25.5%) were found to have infestations with a single parasitic species, while 165 samples (74.5%) exhibited polyparasitic infestations, with 2 to 6 coexisting species. These results provide a detailed overview of the parasitic fauna affecting the European brown hare in this region, highlighting the importance of continuing research on the impact of these parasites on wildlife health and their potential impact on human health.
Rusu et al. (2025) studied this question.