Two hundred and sixteen anurans representing 10 species (Bufo japonicus, Rana japonica, Ra. limnocharis, Ra. nigromaculata, Ra. ornativentris, Ra. porosa, Ra. rugosa, Ra. tagoi, Buergeria buergeri, andRhacophorus schlegelii) and 3 families were collected on Honshu Island, Japan, between 1994 and 1999 and examined for helminths. Gravid individuals of 5 species of Trematoda, Diplodiscus japonicus, Glypthelmins rugocaudata, Haematoloechus sibiricus, Mesocoelium brevicaecum, and Polystoma ozakii, 2 species of Cestoda, Cylindrotaenia japonica, Ophiotaenia ranae, 10 species of Nematoda, Amphibiocapillaria bufonis, Cosmocerca japonica, Cosmocercoides pulcher, Meteterakis japonica, Oswaldocruzia insulae, Os. socialis, Pharyngodon polypedatis, Rhabdias incerta, Rhab. nipponica, and Spiroxys japonica, and 1 species of Acanthocephala, Acanthocephalus lucidus, were recovered. Six new host records are reported. Rhabdias montana and Rhab. polypedates are proposed as synonyms of Rhab. nipponica.

During field surveys in Venezuela, Peru, and French Guiana, species of Litomosoides were recovered from bats and from a didelphid marsupial. Their morphology was studied, giving particular attention to the head and caudal papillae, the spicules (used to distinguish the carinii and sigmodontis groups of Litomosoides), and the microfilariae. Litomosoides wilsoni sp. n. from the short-tailed opossum Monodelphis emiliae is described from Peru; Litomosoides brasiliensis, Litomosoides chandleri, and Litomosoides guiterasi from bats are redescribed, and new hosts are recorded. For the first time, larval stages were recovered from bats (1 male and 1 female fourth-stage larvae of Litomos. brasiliensis). Litomosoides solarii sp. n. from the fringe-lipped bat Trachops cirrhosus (Phyllostomidae) in Peru is distinguished from the other species by its peculiar microfilaria (the male is unknown). Filaria serpicula from Phyllostomus sp. in Brazil is renamed Litomosoides serpicula (Molin, 1858) comb. n. This study confirms the close morphological resemblance between the species of Litomosoides from flying and terrestrial mammals and reinforces the hypothesis of host-switching in the evolution of this genus. The 2 North American species of Litomosoides from the Geomyidae were reexamined and are peculiar in several adult and microfilarial characters that resemble those of Litomosa, parasitic in Old World bats. The following new combinations are proposed: Litomosa westi (Gardner and Schmidt, 1986) comb. n. and Litomosa thomomydis (Gardner and Schmidt, 1986) comb. n. However, Litomosa and Litomosoides have in common a thick buccal capsule embedded posteriorly in the esophagus, which suggests that they are closely related. Litomosoides andersoni, a parasite of a caviomorph rodent, likely results from conflation of a species of Litomosoides and one of Ackertia.

One hundred slimy sculpins, Cottus cognatus (Cottidae), collected from Six Fathom Bank Lake Trout Refuge in Lake Huron in June 1995 were examined for parasites. A total of 17 parasite species (3 Digenea, 2 Monogenea, 3 Cestoda, 3 Nematoda, 2 Acanthocephala, 2 Ciliophora, 1 Microspora, and 1 Myxosporea) were found to infect sculpins. Tetracotyle sp. had the highest prevalence, mean intensity, and mean abundance, followed by Diplostomum sp. The most common gastrointestinal helminth species was Echinorhynchus salmonis. Epistylis sp. occurred on the gills of 79 sculpins. The mean parasite species richness ± SD and mean helminth abundance ± SD were 5.4 ± 1.6 and 242.6 ± 264.5, respectively. The mean Brillouin's diversity and evenness values were 0.5773 ± 0.1915 and 0.5248 ± 0.1892, respectively. Although the helminth community of slimy sculpins is dominated by larval trematodes that mature in piscivorous birds, it is believed that few slimy sculpins are eaten by birds at this location.

Thin layer chromatography was used to analyze the amino acids and carbohydrates present in the adults of Echinostoma caproni removed from the intestines of experimentally infected laboratory mice, Mus musculus. Visual observation of the amino acid chromatograms confirmed the presence of histidine, proline, alanine, leucine, and valine. Several unknown ninhydrin-positive zones were also detected. Quantification of the histidine, proline, alanine, leucine, and valine zones in adult samples by densitometry gave mean percent values of 0.0921, 0.146, 0.0751, 0.00601, and 0.00756, respectively. Visual observation of the carbohydrate chromatograms showed the presence of glucose and raffinose. Quantification of the glucose and raffinose zones in adult samples by densitometry gave mean percent values of 0.0157 and 0.0136, respectively. Previous studies on amino acid and carbohydrate analyses in trematodes are discussed.

Published reports suggest that some species of earthworms may serve as paratenic hosts or even intermediate hosts for the pig parasite, Ascaris suum. This study was conducted to determine whether infective As. suum eggs could hatch and the larvae remain infective within the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris. Pig feces containing infective As. suum eggs were fed to earthworms that were then allowed to purge their intestines and eliminate ascarid eggs. Although exposed earthworms were examined using direct dissection, agar, and digestion techniques, no As. suum larva was recovered from the earthworms. Twenty-five exposed earthworms were administered to each of 3 helminth-free pigs, but no As. suum larva was isolated from the liver, the lungs, or the small intestine on days 4, 7, and 11 postinoculation. No intermediate or paratenic host role for L. terrestris in the As. suum life cycle was demonstrated. Unexpectedly, unidentified nematode larvae were isolated from both the earthworms and the lungs of the earthworm-fed pigs. These earthworms were imported from Canada and were usually sold to anglers for fish bait, suggesting that the human-mediated transport of intermediate or paratenic hosts may introduce parasites to new geographic regions.

Eimeria lancasterensis Joseph, 1969, and Eimeria ontarioensis Lee and Dorney, 1971, are reported for the first time from the feces of fox squirrels, Sciurus niger, in southeastern Nebraska. Eimeria lancasterensis was found in 30 of 31 (97%) of the fox squirrels, and E. ontarioensis was found as a coinfection in 2 of 31 (6%). Oocyst measurements and structural features were similar to those reported previously from S. niger and the eastern grey squirrel, S. carolinensis.

We sampled lice from 2 species of Neotropical thrushes, Turdus assimilis, the white-throated robin, and T. grayi, the clay-colored robin, to document the prevalence, intensity, abundance, and species richness on each host. Sampling was conducted in 1999 in the Coto Brus Valley of southern Costa Rica using a modified dust-ruffling technique. The prevalence of lice was high—lice were recovered from 93% (n = 14) of T. grayi and 86% (n = 22) of T. assimilis individuals sampled. Observed prevalence and generic-level louse diversity were similar to those reported for T. migratorius, the American robin, in Newfoundland, Canada, although T. assimilis and T. grayi tended to have higher proportions of lice belonging to the suborder Amblycera. Turdus grayi hosted marginally more louse species (mean = 1.6, SD = 0.8) and had marginally higher louse abundance (mean = 33.9, SD = 27.9) than T. assimilis (mean = 1.1, SD = 0.6 and mean = 16.5, SD = 17.3, respectively), although T. grayi and T. assimilis are closely related and similar in size. Distributions of lice on the 2 species were aggregated, indicating substantial individual variation in the abundance of lice supported.

A die-off of koi carp, Cyprinus carpio, at a commercial rearing facility located in Spanish Fork, Utah, U.S.A., is reported. Although the cause of mortality in carp remained undetermined, moribund carp became heavily infested with Trichodina mutabilis and 6 species of Dactylogyrus (prevalence = 100%). Dactylogyrus formosus comprised the largest proportion of the dactylogyrid population on infested hosts (38.7%), followed by D. dulkeiti (28.8%), D. anchoratus (14.7%), D. baueri (8.6%), D. intermedius (8.0%), and D. minutus (1.2%). Occurrences of D. dulkeiti and D. baueri on Cy. carpio represent new host records. Dactylogyrus dulkeiti and T. mutabilis on carp in Utah are the first records of these species in the Nearctic.

The enteric helminth fauna of the threatened yellow-blotched sawback turtle, Graptemys flavimaculata Cagle, 1954, was examined for the first time. Seven specimens were collected from the Pascagoula River in Jackson, George, and Green counties, Mississippi, U.S.A. The turtles were necropsied for toxicology studies, and their intestinal tracts were salvaged for parasitic analysis. One acanthocephalan species, Neoechinorhynchus stunkardi; 5 trematode species, Telorchis corti, T. angustus, T. singularis, an unidentified pronocephalid, and Cotylaspsis cokeri; and 2 nematode species, Falcaustra procera, and Spiroxys sp., were found. No new species were encountered; however, G. flavimaculata is a new host record, and the Pascagoula River is a new location record for all 8 helminth species. Transmission of at least 3 of the 8 helminth species involves ingestion of a mollusc intermediate host by the turtle host, which is not unexpected given the molluscivorous diet of adult G. flavimaculata.