A Study of Oribatid Mites As Potential Intermediate Hosts of Anoplocephalid Tapeworms of Tatra Chamois and Tatra Marmots from the Tatra Mountains, Central Europe, and Report of a New Intermediate Host for , the Parasite of Leporidae

Tatra chamois ( (Blahout 1972)) and Tatra marmot ( (Kratochvíl 1961)) are significant endemic subspecies of the subalpine and alpine ranges of the Tatra Mountains in Central Europe. In four studied localities in the range of their typical biotopes in Slovakia and Poland, we investigated intestinal parasites of Tatra chamois and Tatra marmots, with an emphasis on anoplocephalid tapeworms. We also studied the occurrence, species diversity, and abundance of oribatid mites as intermediate hosts thereof, and the prevalence of cysticercoid larval stages of anoplocephalid tapeworms in collected oribatids using morphological and molecular methods. Coprological analyses revealed the average positivity of spp. in chamois faeces at 23.5% and in marmot samples at 71.1%, with significant differences between the localities under study. Morphological analyses determined the presence of cysticercoids in five oribatid species: , , , , and . This is the first record of as an intermediate host of anoplocephalid tapeworms, as well as the first report of occurrence in the territory of the Tatra Mountains, confirmed also by molecular methods.