Dibothriocephalus nihonkaiensis infection with Ursus arctos in Shari, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

　 A male brown bear (Ursus arctos yesoensis) was caught in September 2015, in Shari, Hokkaido, Japan. Necropsy was performed, and a number of large cestodes were collected from the intestine. They were diagnosed as Dibothriocephalus sp. based on the morphological features of scolices and genitalia. These parasites were identified as Dibothriocephalus nihonkaiensis by the sequences of 28 ribosomal RNA gene and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase gene. This is the first report of identification of cestode from a Hokkaido brown bear as D. nihonkaiensis.