Lynx rufus (Schreber, 1777)

Holland, Celia V., 2023, A walk on the wild side: A review of the epidemiology of Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati in wild hosts, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 22, pp. 216-228 : 222

3.2. Bobcat ( Lynx rufus )

The bobcat, L. rufus or Felis rufus is the most widely distributed carnivore in North America (Roberts and Crimmins, 2010) with a tolerance for fragmented habitats (Riley et al., 2004). The majority of studies on T. cati in bobcats are from North America with the exception of one study from Mexico ( Table 6). As was the case for the Eurasian lynx , bobcats also demonstrate high prevalences of T. cati although worm burdens tend to be more modest with the exception of the bobcats from West Virginia (Watson et al., 1981). In a novel approach, Hiestand et al. (2014) modelled the potential presence of T. cati in bobcats from Southern Illinois and found that all climatic variables were low contributors to model creation, whereas land surface cover was as an important variable for the presence of T. cati .

The diet of bobcats includes lagomorphs, rodents, white tailed deer, and birds as common prey species ( Litvaitis et al., 1984; Toweill and Anthony, 1988). Stone and Pence (1978) highlight the predominantly carnivorous diet of bobcats with its diet in West Texas consisting of rodents (55% aggregate volume), rabbits (39%), and birds (6%), all potential paratenic hosts for Toxocara spp.