[Morphology and biometry of eggs and larvae of Strongyloides sp. Grassi, 1879 (Rhabditoidea: Strongyloididae), a gastrointestinal parasite of Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766) (Rodentia: Hydrochaeridae), in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil].

An important method to diagnose and study the helminthofauna of wild animals is to examine the host's feces to find eggs and larvae, seeking to identify the parasites and study their morphobiology. The objective of the present work is to provide morphological and biometric data on the eggs and larvae of Strongyloides sp., a capybara gastrointestinal parasite. Using the technique of Gordon and Whitlock, simple flotation and the modified Baermann examination, capybara fecal samples were selected based on a criterion of the highest proportion of eggs and larvae in the initial development stages, for morphometric description of eggs, L1, L2 and L3 of Strongyloides sp. From past reports of parasitism in Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris, we suspect that the eggs and larvae in this study are of Strongyloides chapini Sandground, 1925, which constitutes the first description of these stages for this species of nematode. Nevertheless, the morphology and biometry data of these stages demonstrate that they are similar to those of other species of the Strongyloides genus.