The Stara Zagora area in southern Bulgaria is home to pasture vegetation and land snails infected with protostrongylids.

Abstract

Nine pastures in the Stara Zagora region were studied to determine the association between
protostrongylid infections of land snails and the type of pasture vegetation. An abundance of plant life
was a distinguishing feature of the pastures. The following species of strongylus larvae were found:
Protostrongylus sp., Neostrongylus linearis, Cystocaulus ocreatus, and Muellerius capillaris. Helicella
obvia is the primary intermediate host for protostrongylids, and the multiple regression analysis verified
connections between vegetation and infection characteristics. For both the overall prevalence of
protostrongylids and the prevalence of the most prevalent species, M. capillaris, the only predictor in
regression models was the type of the primary vegetation.