HELMINTH FAUNA IN NOVAYA ZEMLYA REINDEER ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OF THEIR COPROSCOPY

Reindeer feces (32 samples) were collected in the northern and northeastern parts of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (Cape Zhelaniya and Pakhtusov Island) in the period from 2019 to 2023. We studied them via methods of coprohelminthic-, -larvo-, and -ovoscopy with subsequent study of the morphology and morphometry of the obtained helminths (at various stages of their development) in accordance with GOST R 54627-2011. In fecal samples from Cape Zhelaniya, the helminth fauna was represented by nematodes of the order Strongylida (parasitizing in the small intestine) and trematodes of the family Fasciolidae (if the detected egg was not spurious-parasitic). The intensity of invasion was extremely low. The helminths found are typical for reindeer. In 16 samples from Cape Zhelaniya (64%) and in 7 samples from Pakhtusov Island (100%), neither eggs nor larvae of parasitic worms were found. All these samples were dried ones. This result may indicate either an actual, stable absence of parasitic worms in the reindeer whose excrements we examined or a combination of circumstances that led to the absence of helminths in studied samples. The work must be continued in many directions, and relevant research is planned for 2024.