Journal of Parasitology

Allegheny woodrats (Neotoma magister) are karst-specializing rodents that are rare or in conservation need in many states within their current range. Parasitism and habitat fragmentation have been suggested as primary reasons for declining populations. The presence, prevalence, and impact of ectoparasites, including fleas, ticks, and bots, is not fully understood rangewide. We collected Allegheny woodrat ectoparasites across 8 states in their range, identifying parasites via morphological and genetic means...

Dicyemids (phylum Dicyemida) are the most common and most characteristic endosymbionts in the renal sacs of benthic cephalopod molluscs: octopuses and cuttlefishes. Typically, 2 or 3 dicyemid species are found in a single specimen of the host, and most dicyemids have high host specificity. Host-specific parasites are restricted to a limited range of host species by ecological barriers that impede dispersal and successful establishment; therefore, phylogenies of interacting groups are often congruent due to repeated co-speciation...

During a 2021 parasitological survey of birds in the Nyae Nyae-Khaudum Dispersal Area (Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Namibia), we collected 9 specimens of Dendritobilharzia pulverulenta (Braun, 1901) Skrjabin, 1924 infecting the blood (heart lumen) of a white-backed duck, Thalassornis leuconotus (Eyton, 1838) (Anseriformes: Anatidae), and a fulvous whistling duck, Dendrocygna bicolor (Vieillot, 1816) (Anatidae). These flukes were fixed for morphology and preserved for DNA extraction. We assigned our specimens to DendritobilharziaSkrjabin and Zakharow, 1920 because they were strongly dorso-ventrally flattened in both sexes and had an intestinal cyclocoel with a zig-zag common cecum with lateral dendritic ramifications, numerous testes posterior to the cyclocoel and flanking the dendritic ramifications, and a tightly compacted convoluted ovary as well as lacking an oral sucker, ventral sucker, and gynaecophoric canal...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Eight ticks were found in Comacchio (FE), Italy parasitizing a young black iguana (Ctenosaura similis) that had been accidentally transported in a commercial plant container from Costa Rica. Specimens were identified morphologically as Amblyomma scutatum and then confirmed by the barcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene. Amblyomma scutatum is a common tick known to infest reptiles in Central America, Mexico, and Venezuela, but not in Europe. In Italy, the possibility for this tick to become endemic is unlikely because of the absence of its principal hosts...

Freshwater snails are commonly studied within the context of their role as intermediate hosts for digenetic trematodes. However, there are fundamental data deficiencies related to our understanding of directly transmitted parasites, such as coccidia, for freshwater snails. Because variation in coccidia pathogenicity and transmission among snail species likely has major impacts on snail community structure, we aimed to investigate the spatial distribution and prevalence of coccidia in several freshwater snail species throughout the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains ecoregions in Arkansas...

Birds have a diverse community of "permanent" arthropods that complete their entire life cycle on the body of the host. Because some of these arthropods are parasites that reduce host fitness, birds control them by grooming, which consists of preening with the beak and scratching with the feet. Although preening is the primary component of grooming, scratching is essential for controlling arthropods on the head and neck, which cannot be preened. Several unrelated groups of birds have evolved comb-like pectinate claws on the middle toenail of each foot...

We propose Dulcitransversotrema n. gen. for the freshwater transversotrematids Dulcitransversotrema patialense (Soparkar, 1924) n. comb. and Dulcitransversotrema chauhani (Agrawal and Singh, 1960) n. comb. Dulcitransversotrema is unique by the combination of lacking an oral sucker and an extensively coiled uterus as well as having testes that are not deeply lobed and that abut or nearly abut the inner posterolateral margins of the digestive tract (vs. deeply lobed testes that abut the cyclocoel region of the digestive tract only or that do not abut the ceca), a pre-oral genital pore (vs...

An inventory of parasites infecting the jaguar (Panthera onca) across its distribution range is relevant for the conservation of this threatened big cat. In this study, we report the occurrence of helminths in a jaguar from Mexico using morphological techniques (cleared and stained mounts and scanning electron microscopy) and partial sequences of the 28S ribosomal RNA (28S rRNA) gene and the cytochrome c oxidase 1 mitochondrial (COI) gene. We also provide an updated list of helminth species reported in jaguars in the Americas...

The acaricidal effect of 14 strains of Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato isolated from soil of livestock farms in the Mexican tropics was evaluated against larvae and engorged females, and during the laying and hatching of eggs of Rhipicephalus microplus (Ixodida: Ixodidae). For each fungal strain, the larvae mortality percentage was evaluated through a larval immersion test, while the reproductive efficiency indices in engorged females were measured using adult immersion tests at a dose of 1 × 108 conidia/ml...

We report the morphological characteristics of oocysts of Eimeria lancasterensisJoseph, 1969, collected from 6 of 6 (100%) eastern gray squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis, collected in Arkansas (n = 3) and Oklahoma (n = 3), and Eimeria ontarioensisLee and Dorney, 1971, recovered from an individual of S. carolinensis from Arkansas. Oocysts of E. lancasterensis were ovoidal to ellipsoidal, measuring (L × W) 24.0 × 14.6 (18-29 × 12-16) µm; shape index (L/W) was 1.6 (1.3-1.8). A micropyle and an oocyst residuum were absent, but up to 2 polar granules were present...

Schistosomiasis is a globally burdensome parasitic disease caused by flatworms (blood flukes) in the genus Schistosoma. The current standard treatment for schistosomiasis is the drug praziquantel, but there is an urgent need to advance novel interventions such as vaccines. Several glycolytic enzymes have been evaluated as vaccine targets for schistosomiasis, and data from these studies are reviewed here. Although these parasites are canonically considered to be intracellular, proteomic analysis has revealed that many schistosome glycolytic enzymes are additionally found at the host-interactive surface...

Theileria equi is 1 of the emerging and prevailing tick-borne hemoprotozoans adversely affecting the equids worldwide, including Pakistan. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence and molecular characterization of T. equi in working horses (n = 194), the comparative efficacy of different diagnostic tests, associated risk factors, and hematobiochemical analysis. The blood samples of horses were subjected to microscopic examination, cELISA, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the results revealed a prevalence of 9...

Gregarina lutescens n. sp. is described from the alimentary canal of the harlequin ladybird or multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) collected from prairie fleabane, Erigeron strigosus, at Peru State College, Peru, Nemaha Co., Nebraska. Our specimens differ from all 11 known species of Gregarina infecting coccinellid beetles worldwide by differences in size and relative shape, color, and association structure. Gregarina lutescens n. sp. is smaller than 7 known species infecting coccinellid beetles but larger than the other 4 known species based on confidence interval exclusion of means...

The chemotaxis responses of soil nematodes have been well studied in bacteriophagic nematodes, plant-parasitic nematodes, entomopathogenic nematodes, and to a lesser extent malacopathogenic nematodes. Free-living stages of parasitic nematodes often use chemotaxis to locate hosts. In this study, we compared the chemotaxis profile of 2 slug-associated nematodes with overlapping host ranges. Phasmarhabditis californica is a facultative parasite that has been shown to express strain-dependent variation in chemoattraction profile...

Two haemogregarine "species" names, Haemogregarina tarentannulari and Haemogregarina rawashi, were cited by Saoud et al. (1995) as having been described by Mohammed and Ramadan (1996, in press). However, the paper by Mohammed and Ramadan (1996) was never published and, therefore, these names and their authorities must be suppressed because they violate Chapter 3 (Criteria for Publication), Article 8 (What Constitutes Published Work) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The following new names are introduced to replace them based on the Principle of Priority (Chapter 6, Article 23, 23...

Dogs are common in Tonga, where they exist in a close relationship with humans as pets and guard dogs and often are free-roaming due to limited property fencing and the need to scavenge for food. Little is known about the health status of these dogs and the type and level of pathogens carried by them. In this study, blood and fecal samples were analyzed to identify the presence of endoparasites and determine packed cell volume (PCV) values for dogs in Tonga. The current data deficit in this area made it necessary to develop a methodology and collect preliminary data to assist with future research in Tonga...

During May 2022 and again in March 2023, 5 quillbacks, Carpiodes cyprinus, were collected from the Verdigris River, Wagoner County, Oklahoma (n = 1), and the Black River, Lawrence County, Arkansas (n = 4), and their gill, gallbladder, fins, integument, musculature, and other major organs were macroscopically examined for myxozoans. Gill lamellae from the single quillback from the Verdigris River was infected with a new myxozoan, Thelohanellus oklahomaensis n. sp. Qualitative and quantitative morphological data were obtained from fresh and formalin-fixed preserved myxospores, and molecular data consisted of a 1,767 base pair sequence of the partial small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA gene...

A new species of entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema adamsi n. sp., was recovered from the soil of a longan tree (Dimocarpus sp.) in Mueang Lamphun District, Thailand, using baiting techniques. Upon analysis of the nematode's morphological traits, we found it to be a new species of Steinernema and a member of the Longicaudatum clade. Molecular analyses of the ITS rDNA and D2D3 of 28S rDNA sequences further confirmed that S. adamsi n. sp. is a new species of the Longicaudatum clade, which is closely related to Steinernema guangdongense and Steinernema longicaudam...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.