Helminths of Small Mammals

In nature, small mammals are an essential part of the trophic chain, and their destabilization can seriously unsettle the balance of an ecosystem. Moreover, their helminth parasites have been recognized as potential regulators of small mammal populations and act as biological tags of various environmental perturbations. Small mammals and their helminths have practically colonized all regions around the word, even in extreme climatic conditions or with scarce vegetation. In this context, small mammals act as intermediate hosts, paratenic hosts and definitive hosts of a great variety of helminth parasites, including plathelminths (Trematoda and Cestoda), nemathelminths (Nematoda) and acantocephalans (Acantocephala), which have complex biological cycles, and infect small mammals when a free, environmentally resistant stage is ingested or by depredation of their prey, usually invertebrates, but also other small vertebrates.

The Special Issue “Helminths of Small Mammals”, of the journal Animals, aims to publish high-quality original research and reviews, which focus on all aspects related to small mammals and their helminths, for example: worldwide urban and wild helminths of small mammal populations; helminth community ecology, helminth regulation capacity of their hosts, zoonotic potential, taxonomy and systematics, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, exosomes, helminth–small mammal relationships, etc.

Prof. Maria Teresa Galán-Puchades
Dr. Márius Vicent Fuentes
Guest Editors

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