Rev 03/25/2024
Chromadorea
Rhabditia
Rhabditida
Metarongyloidea
Protostrongylidae
Males:
Female:
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Parassite of ungulates in eastern and cemtral North America. Northward expansion of its range has occurred during the last 50 years. Increase in the range is expected with climate change (Garwood et al., 2024).
Parasite of the nervous system of ruminants. Cause direct damage and/or indirect due to inflammatory response of host tissues.
Infections of the meningeal worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, cause morbidity and mortality in many wild and domestic ungulate species.
In North America, P. tenuis has already expanded its range northward in the last 50 years, affecting the persistence and management of wildlife and domestic species (Pickles et al., 2013).
Parelaphostrongylus tenuis is a major factor in moose population decline in the north-central United States and south-central Canada (Carstensen et al., 2017) and impedes translocations and reintroductions of caribou (Vors and Boyce, 2009), mule deer (Oates et al., 2000), and elk (Samuel et al., 1992). It also causes neurological symptoms and mortality in several domestic ungulates (Garwood et al., 2024)
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Carstensen, M., Hildebrand, E. C., Plattner, D., Dexter, M., St-Louis, V., Jennelle, C., and Wright, R. G. 2017. Determining cause-specific mortality of adult moose in northeast Minnesota, February 2013-July 2017. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Dougherty, E.C., Goble, F.C. 1946. The Genus Protostrongylus Kamenskii, 1905 (Nematoda: Metastrongylidae), and Its Relatives: Preliminary Note. J. Parasitol. 32:7-16.
Garwood, T.J., Richards, J.E., Machietto, M.G., Gerrhold, R.W., Karia, S.A. et al. 2024. A de novo whole genome assembly and annotation of Parelaphostrongylus tenuis. J. Nematology 56: DOI: 10.2478/jofnem-2024-0009
Oates, D. W., Sterner, M. C., and Boyd, E. 2000. Meningeal worm in deer from western Nebraska. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 36:370-373.
Pickles, R. S. A., Thornton, D., Feldman, R., Marques, A., and Murray, D. L. 2013. Predicting shifts in parasite distribution with climate change: A multitrophic level approach. Global Change Biology19:2645-2654
Samuel, W. M., Pybus, M. J., Welch, D. A., and Wilke, C. J. 1992. Elk as a potential host for meningeal worm: Implications for translocation. Journal of Wildlife Management 56:629-639.
Vors, L. S. and Boyce, M. S. 2009. Global declines of caribou and reindeer. Global Change Biology15:2626-2633.