Strongylid Nematodes of South-East and East Asian Primates

With many non-human primates (NHPs) showing continued population decline, there is an ongoing need to better understand their ecology and conservation threats. One such threat is the risk of disease, with various bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections previously reported to have damaging consequences for NHP hosts. Strongylid nematodes are one of the most documented parasites in NHPs, yet these communities remain poorly understand in wildlife hosts, with coproscopic methods unable to distinguish genera, let alone species, and traditional sequencing methods reliant on individual parasite specimens or species-specific primers. Here, metagenomics, using high-throughput sequencing, were applied to describe the entire strongylid communities infecting South-East and East Asian primates. This revealed surprisingly low species richness, building on existing knowledge and providing a framework for ongoing research into the genetic diversity of strongylid communities in elusive wildlife globally.