Twenty-eight specimens of Pantherophis alleghaniensis Holbrook (eastern rat snake) from North Carolina were examined for gastrointestinal helminths. Thirteen species of helminths (3 trematodes, 2 cestodes, 7 nematodes, and 1 acanthocephalan) are reported, representing 8 new host records and 1 new geographic distribution record. Immature physalopterids were the most prevalent helminth (54%), followed by Strongyloides serpentis and Capillaria colubra, both of which had prevalence rates of 29%. Each trematode, cestode, and macracanthorhynchid cystacanth were prevalent in 4% of the snakes.

Seventeen specimens of carnivores of the families Felidae (Puma concolor and Leopardus geoffroyi) and Canidae (Lycalopex culpaeus) were collected in different localities of Nahuel Huapi National Park (Argentina) from August 2005 to May 2018. The specimens were processed by necropsy, and ascaridid parasites were obtained only from L. culpaeus. Morphological analysis indicates all the specimens belong to Toxocara canis, and specific identification was confirmed by PCR procedure. This study represents the first molecular identification of T. canis from Andean foxes in Argentina, and provides information on the spatial distribution of T. canis in wild environments in Patagonia.

Fifteen helminth species—the acanthocephalan Moniliformis moniliformis, the cestodes Hymenolepis cf. diminuta and Paroniella sp., and 11 nematode species identified at least to subfamily and 1 to family—were found in the digestive tracts of 10 individuals of Rattus mordax (Muridae) from Papua New Guinea. Of the nematode morphotypes, 6 were identified to genus: a larval stage of the ascaridid Ophidascaris robertsi and adults of the chabertiid Cyclodontostomum purvisi, the physalopterid Physaloptera sp., the spirocercid Mastophorus muris, the strongyloidid Strongyloides venezuelensis, and the trichurid Trichuris sp. However, the remaining specimens were in poor condition and could not be fully identified. This study represents the first survey of the helminths of R. mordax, and all helminths are new host records. Ophidascarius robertsi and S. venezuelensis have not been reported previously from other Rattus spp. from Papua New Guinea. A bootstrap analysis estimated that 73% of possible species in the nematode component community of the helminth assemblage were recovered. The dominant species in the helminth assemblage was the spirocercid M. muris. It was the only species found in more than 1 individual, occurring in 50% of the hosts examined. By contrast, the dominant species in the assemblages of Rattus giluwensis, Rattus niobe, Rattus novaeguineae, Rattus steini, and Rattus verucundus were a heligmosomoid, a heligmonellid, an oxyurid, and a heterakid, or a spirurid, respectively. With the exception of R. giluwensis, heligmonellids were present at a low prevalence and intensities in each of the host species. Differences in habitat, diet, and behavior may account for the differences encountered between the helminth assemblages of R. mordax and R. niobe.

The degree to which infectiveness to intermediate hosts is retained as eggs of Moniliformis moniliformis (Acanthocephala) age was studied by determining the prevalence and mean intensity of cystacanths produced in the cockroach (Periplaneta americana) intermediate host. Eggs up to 9 wk old resulted in more prevalent and intense infections than did older eggs. After this initial flush of infectiveness, prevalence and mean intensities did not decline gradually to uninfectiveness, but rather they quickly fell to a relatively stable level that was maintained for another 69 wk before eggs became uninfective. Thus, except initially and at the end of infectivity, there was a period of more than a year when the age of eggs played no role in determining their infectivity. No infection was produced by eggs older than 82 wk.

Sea turtles are known to host a wide variety of organisms, including parasitic marine leeches of the family Ozobranchidae. Leeches are sanguivorous (blood feeders) and are typically found on soft skin areas of turtles, such as the cloaca and corners of eyes and mouth. Superinfection with this parasite can lead to severe damage to the host. Additionally, Ozobranchidae have been shown to be a potential candidate as a mechanical vector for the tumor-inducing fibropapilloma-associated turtle herpesvirus. Marine Ozobranchidae have been found in all major ocean basins infecting all hard-shelled sea turtle species. Records from the Indian ocean are scarce but indicate a widespread distribution. In this study, we present the first cases of ozobranchid leeches found on sea turtles in the Maldives. The host turtles were entangled in abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing nets (also known as ghost nets), and treated at the Olive Ridley Project's Marine Turtle Rescue Centre in Baa Atoll in the Maldives. All hosts were olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), which are typically not resident to the country, but are often observed entangled in ghost nets. The entangled turtles are thought to be carried over great distances when floating in various ocean currents. Ozobranchid leeches were identified to the species level with morphological and barcoding methods and compared to previously published sequences from around the globe. The presence of parasitic leeches on entangled turtles and potential epidemiological implications for the endemic populations of sea turtle species throughout the Indian Ocean are discussed.

Eimeria vilasi and E. beecheyi are reported for the first time from the golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis). Eimeria vilasi was found in 12 of 35 (34%), and E. beecheyi in 2 of 35 (6%), golden-mantled ground squirrels in Arizona. Sporulated oocysts of E. vilasi were ovoidal, 18.1 × 15.8 (15–21 × 13–18) µm, with a length/width ratio of 1.1 (1.0–1.3), and 1–4 polar granules. Sporocysts were ellipsoidal, 10.1 × 6.0 (8–12 × 5–8) µm, with a length/width ratio of 1.7 (1.4–2.2). Sporulated oocysts of E. beecheyi were subspheroidal, 14.8 × 12.9 (14–17 × 12–15) µm, with a length/width ratio of 1.1 (1.1–1.3), and 1–3 polar granules. Sporocysts were ovoidal, 8.1 × 5.1 (7–9 × 4–6) µm, with a length/width ratio of 1.6 (1.4–1.8). The measurements and structural features of these oocysts were similar to those reported for E.vilasi and E. beecheyi recovered from other marmotine rodents. In addition, 20 of 35 (57%) golden-mantled ground squirrels were positive for Eimeria callospermophili, and 3 of 35 (9%) for Eimeria cynomysis, infections.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains, U.S.A., the trematode Metagonimoides oregonensis, a parasite of raccoons and possibly mink, utilizes larvae of lungless salamanders as second intermediate hosts, most frequently using the salamander Desmognathus quadramaculatus. We tested whether there was a difference in parasite infection between this salamander and its sympatric, cryptic congener, Desmognathus folkertsi, in northern Georgia. Whereas larval D. quadramaculatus had a prevalence of 100% with intensities ranging from 18 to over 1,000, none of the D. folkertsi had visible metacercariae. These results indicate that M. oregonensis is more host-specific in salamander second intermediate hosts in the southern Appalachians than previously reported.