Distribution and abundance of freshwater snails in schistosomiasis endemic communities in Ovia South-West Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria
2025
Adeyemi, E.E. | Enabulele, E.E. | Aisien, M.S.O.
Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State in Nigeria is endemic for urogenital schistosomiasis. However, there are no reports of snail hosts of the disease in any community within the locality. Ayear-long freshwater snail survey was conducted in seven localities (Aden, Igbogor, Ikoha, Okopon, Okponha, Siluko, and Ugbogui) in Ovia South-West to determine the snail diversity and identify species that are intermediate hosts for schistosomiasis. A total of 468 snails representing species in four genera (Bulinus, Lanistes, Melanoides, and Radix) were collected. Based on the morphological appearances of shells, five snails, B. forskalii, B. globosus, B. truncatus, L. varicus, and M. tuberculata were identified at the species level. The snail Radix could not be identified at the species level. Melanoides tuberculata was the most abundant snail, and the only species identified at all sampled locations (n = 284, 60.68%). The next most abundant species was Radix sp. (n = 106, 22.65%), followed by B. globosus(n = 42, 8.97%). The least abundant snail was B. truncatus (n = 5, 1.07%). In Siluko, all species of snails were present, and only M. tuberculata was present in Ugbogui. In both the dry and wet seasons, all snail species were present (wet, n = 297) (dry, n = 171). Similar snail diversity occurred at each sampling location in both seasons, with more individuals of each species collected during the wet season. The only infected snail was a single Radix sp. in Siluko that shed the brevifurcate-apharyngeate distome furcocercariae. All the other snail species were uninfected.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta