Comparative Parasitology 68(2) 2001 - Peru State College

Comp. Parasitol.
68(2), 2001, pp. 177-184
Parelaphostrongylus tennis (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae) and Other
Parasites of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus} in Costa Rica
RAMON A. CARRENO,1'5 LANCE A. DuRDEN,2 DANIEL R. BROOKS,3 ARTHUR ABRAMS,4 AND
ERIC P. HOBERG4
1 Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada NIG 2W1 (e-mail:
rcarreno@uoguelph.ca), .
2 Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460,
U.S.A. (e-mail: Idurden@gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu),
3 Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5 (e-mail: dbrooks@
zoo.utoronto.ca), and
4 Biosystematics and National Parasite Collection Unit, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, BARC East
1180, Beltsville, Maryland 20715, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT: Parasites were collected from 2 female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Area de
Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica, in early June 1999. Both deer were parasitized by the ticks Amblyomma
parvum and Haemaphysalis juxtakochi as well as the hippoboscid fly, Lipoptena mazamae. One deer also hosted
the ticks Boophilus microplus, Ixodes qffinis, and Anocentor nitens. Both deer were infected by larvae of the
nasopharyngeal botfly Cephenemyia jellisoni, and the helminths Eucyathostomum webbi, Gongylonema pulchrum,
Parelaphostrongylus tennis, and Paramphistomum liorchis, whereas Setaria yehi, an undescribed species
of Ashworthius, and Onchocerca cervipedis occurred in single hosts. A cysticercus of Taenia oinissa was found
encapsulated in the lung parenchyma of 1 host. This is the first report of these endoparasites from Central
America.
KEY WORDS: Ashworthius sp., biodiversity, ticks, Boophilus microplus, Gongylonema pulchrum, Haemaphysalis
juxtakochi, Ixodes affinis, Odocoileus virginianus, white-tailed deer, helminth parasites, Parelaphostrongylus
tenuis, cysticercus, Costa Rica.
The white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus
(Zimmermann, 1780) has a widespread Nearctic
and Neotropical range, extending from southern
Canada and the United States through Mexico
and Central America to Bolivia, the Guianas,
and northern Brazil (Reid, 1997). The subspecies
described from Costa Rica, Odocoileus virginianus
truei Merriam, 1898, ranges from the
southeastern edge of Mexico to northeastern
Panama (Whitehead, 1972; Mendez, 1984). The
parasite fauna of O. virginianus and other cervids
is well documented in North America
(Walker and Becklund, 1970; Davidson et al.,
1981). However, very little information is available
on parasites of cervids in the southern parts
of their range, including Central America. This
is significant because white-tailed deer are hosts
to several serious pathogens and parasites of cervids
and other animals, including the tick Ixodes
scapularis Say, 1821, which is the main North
American vector of the agent of Lyme borreli-
5 Corresponding author. Present address: Department
of Nematology, University of California, Davis, California
95616, U.S.A. (e-mail: racarreno@
ucdavis.edu).
177
osis. Additionally, one of the most important
parasites in O. virginianus is Parelaphostrongylus
tenuis (Dougherty, 1945), the meningeal
worm. This species is not pathogenic in O. virginianus,
but when snails infected with its larvae
are ingested by other ruminants such as moose
(Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)), fallow deer
(Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758)), reindeer (Rangifer
tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)), and llamas
(Lama spp.), severe neurologic disease can result
from adult worms in the brain and central
nervous system (Anderson, 1964, 1970; Nettles
et al., 1977; Krogdahl et al., 1987; Rickard et
al., 1994).
The following report is part of a biodiversity
inventory of eukaryotic parasites of vertebrates
in the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG)
in northwestern Costa Rica.
Materials and Methods
We collected 2 adult female O. virginianus within
the ACG, Guanacaste, Costa Rica (10°57'N; 85°48'W)
in early June 1999. Ectoparasites were collected within
1 hr postmortem. Internal organs were then removed,
following procedures suggested by Nettles (1981), and
examined for endoparasites. In addition to onsite ex-
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