Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

Protostrongylus Stilesi (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae): Ecological Isolation And Putative Host-Switching Between Dall’S Sheep And Muskoxen In A Contact Zone, Eric P. Hoberg, Susan J. Kutz, John Nagy, Emily Jenkins, Brett Elkin, Marsha Branigan, Dorothy Cooley

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

The occurrence of Protostrongylus stilesi in a population of introduced muskoxen, Ovibos moschatus wardi, on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Yukon Territory (YT) and Northwest Territories (NT), Canada, is consistent with a contemporary colonization event from Dall’s sheep, Ovis dalli dalli, which indicates that host specificity may be ecologically based and contextual for this parasite. Colonization of muskoxen by P. stilesi may be a predictable event in zones of sympatry with Dall’s sheep; exposure to infection may coincide with occupation of winter ranges of Dall’s sheep by muskoxen during the summer season. Disruption of contemporary ecological isolating barriers can …