Dracunculus spp

2.1.5. Dracunculus spp . from Africa

There are two described Dracunclus species from Africa ( Table 1). Dracunculus doi ( Chabaud, 1960) was originally described using a male specimen from the Madagascar ground boa ( Acrantophis madagascariensis ) ( Chabaud, 1960). Females of this parasite were subsequently detected in a captive Madagascar tree boa ( Sanzinia madagascariensis ) in a Paris Zoo (Vaucher and Bain, 1973). Larvae from the tree boa were infective to Cyclops strenuus and developed to L 3 in 13 days at 22–25 ̊C. These infective larvae were given to a ball python ( Python regius), which developed an infection with two male nematodes (Vaucher and Bain, 1973; Moravec, 2006).

Dracunculus dahomensis (Neumann, 1895) Moorthy, 1937 was originally described from the lymphoid tissues of a captive African rock python ( Python sebae) from Benin (then Dahomey) (Neumann, 1895). Males of this species were redescribed by Moorthy (1937). No other life history traits are known for this parasite ( Moravec, 2006).