Intestinal ciliate composition found in the feces of the Cypriot wild donkey, Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758.

Species composition and distribution of large intestinal ciliates was investigated in the feces from 13 Cypriot wild donkeys, free-living in the Karpaz national park, Northern Cyprus. We identified 16 ciliate genera and 22 species. This is the first report on intestinal ciliates in Cypriot wild donkeys, and no endemic species were observed. The genus Cycloposthium occurred in all animals. The mean number of ciliates was 3.0+/-2.5 x 10(4) cells ml(-1) of feces and the mean number of ciliate species per host was 6.5+/-4.8. Characteristics of the wild donkey ciliates was almost identical to those reported in other equids from various regions around the world. We thus conclude that there is no pronounced geographic variation in the intestinal ciliate fauna of equids.