University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of 5-1948 Studies on the Parasitic Helminths of the North Central States. I. Helminths of Sciurida Robert L. Rausch University of Washington, [email protected] Jack Tiner University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/parasitologyfacpubs Part of the Parasitology Commons Rausch, Robert L. and Tiner, Jack, "Studies on the Parasitic Helminths of the North Central States. I. Helminths of Sciurida" (1948). Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology. 572. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/parasitologyfacpubs/572 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Rausch & Tiner in American Midland Naturalist (May 1948) v. 39, no. 3. Copyright 1948, University of Notre Dame. Used by permission. Studieson theParasitic Helminths of theNorth CentralStates. 1.Helminths of Sciuridae* RobertRausch Departmentof VeterinaryScience, College of Agriculture, Universityof Wisconsin,Madison JackD. Tiner** Depa.rtmentof Zoology and Physiology,University of Illinois, Urbana It is acceptedthat a fairdegree of completenessis being achievedin our knowledgeof North Americanmammals and birds. It can be assumed that nearlyall the describedspecies of the highervertebrates are parasitizedby helminths,but many of these helminthsprobably remain undescribed,and little is known of their geographicaldistributiotn. Very little informationis availableon the incidenceof the parasites,or theireffect on the host. Informationconcerning host-parasite relations should be cf interestto workersin wildlifemanagemenlt, in order to have a more nearlycomplete knowledgeof the ecologyinvolved. The writersconcede that fromthe stand- point of helminthologyalone, informationpertinent to life cyclesis of basic importanceat present.However, we hope that surveydata can be used to advantageby thosewishing to conductsuch research. Over the past fewyears, beginning in 1942, we have made examinationsof a large numberof animalsrepresentative of the fauna of the North Central States,and it is our intentionto presentthe resultingdata, by host group,as theyare completed.While it is true,in some cases, that additionalexamina- tions would yield informationof value, circumstanceshave often made it necessaryto discontinuework with a given group afterstudying only a fairly representativeseries of specimens.In orderto use the timemost economically, we have followedthe practiceof co'lectingwithout concentration on a single group or species.This has also contributedin part to a lack of an adequate numberof animalsfrom some localities. The planningof thisstudy, and mostof the Ohio and Michigancollecting, was carriedout by the seniorauthor, who is also responsiblefor cestodeand trematodeidentifications. The junior authoridentified the nematodesencoun- tered,and assistedin collecting.We regretthat therewere no specialistsin such fieldsas entomology,bacteriology, and mammalogyavailable to make furtheruse of the materialwhich came throughour hands.Whenever possible, studyskins and skulls of this and othermaterial were deposited in recognized collections. 6 A contributionfrom the Departmentof VeterinaryScience, Universityof Wisconsin. The work done in Wisconsin was supportedin part by the Research Committeeof the Graduate School from funds supplied by the 'WisconsinAlumni ResearchFoundation. 4 Formerlyof the Universityof Wisconsin. 728 Rausch & Tiner in American Midland Naturalist (May 1948) v. 39, no. 3. Copyright 1948, University of Notre Dame. Used by permission. 1948 RAUSCH ET AL.: HELMINTHS OF SCIURIDAE 729 The carefully-organizedcollaboration of Elton,Ford, Baker, and Gardner (1931) in theirinvestigations of the diseases and parasitesof rodentsshould standas a modelfor this type of study. Source of Material A totalof 325 sciurids,collected by the writers in Ohio,Michigan, Illilnois, and Wisconsin,was examined,among which the followingwere represented: foxsquirrel, Sciurus niger rufiventer Geoffroy; southern gray squirrel, Sciurus c. carolinensisGmelin; northern gray squirrel, Sciurus carol nensis leucotis Gapper;red squirrel,Tamiasciurus budsonicus subspp.; chipmunk, Tarnias striatussubspp.; eastern flying squirrel, Glaucomys v. volans(L.); northern flyingsquirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis Mearns; 13-lined ground squirrel, Citellust. tridecemlineatus(Mitchill); Franklin's ground squirrel, Citellus franklini(Sabine); woodchuck,Marmota monax subspp. Certain of these werenot identifiedto subspecies,since this has littlevalue in the present study,and suchidentifications are often difficult without large series for com- parison.The hostnames are accordingto Bole and Moulthrop(1942), and Burt(1946). In additionto thespecimens mentioned above, through the kindnessof Dr. ClarenceE. Mickel,a numberof helminthsfrom Minnesota sciurids was madeavailable to us forexamination. This collectionincluded the helminths ftom11 leastchipmunks, Eutdmias minimus jacksoni Howell; 1 graysquirrel, S. carolinensisbypophaeus Merriam; 3 foxsquirrels, S. nigerrufiventer; one 13-linedground squirrel, C. t. tridecemlineatus;and 3 woodchucks,M. monax subsp.With the author'spermission we have also includedthe unpublished resultsof thesurvey of Ohio squirrelsby Katz (1938), whichwas basedon the examinationof 72 southerngray squirrels, S. c. carolinfnsis;and 16 fox squirrels,S. nigerrufiventer. The localitiesfrom which the materialwas examinedare shownon the map (Fig. 1) to thenearest county. The counties,according to thenumbers usedto designatethem, are as follows: OHIO MICHIGAN 23.Dodge 1.Butler 13.Ingham 24.Fond du Lac 2. Darke 14.Cheboygan 25.Shawano 3. Wood ILLINOIS 4. Seneca 15.McHenry MINNESOTA 5.Wyandot WISCONSIN 26.Fillmore 6. Marion 16.Barron 27.Scott 7.Union 17.Buffalo 28.Hennepin 8. Delaware 18. Jackson 29. Ramsey 9. Franklin 19. Juneau 30. Carlton 10. Fairfield 20. Satuk 31. St. Louis 11. Scioto 21. Dane 32. Cook 12. Ashtabula 22. Columbia 33. Carver The localitiesare referredto belowin the separateconsiderations of the helminths,in orderto show theirdistribution. The parasitedistribution is Rausch & Tiner in American Midland Naturalist (May 1948) v. 39, no. 3. Copyright 1948, University of Notre Dame. Used by permission. 730 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 39 (3) 31 * 16'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20 23 13~~~~~~~~1 Fig. 1.-Map of the North Central States showinglocalities from which material for this studywas obtained. Counties in solid black are those from which the host animalswere examinedby the writers. consideredirrespective of host species, since the number of hostanimals exam- inedwas notsufficient to allow otherwise. Results A totalof at least 33 speciesof helminthswas encounteredduring the courseof the presentstudy. The resultsof the examinationsmade by the writerare shownin Table 1. Data takenfrom the work of Katz (1938) are listedin Table 2, and thoseregarding the Minnesotamater al are shownin Table 3. It shouldbe notedhere that the total number of Minnesotasciurids examinedwas not known,so no informationis available concerning incidence of helminthsfrom the animals of thatarea. The helminthsare consideredseparately below, according to species.The numbersin parenthesesrefer to the countieslisted above, and indicatedon themap (Fig. 1). Rausch & Tiner in American Midland Naturalist (May 1948) v. 39, no. 3. Copyright 1948, University of Notre Dame. Used by permission. 1948 RAUSCHET AL.: HELMINTHSOF SCIURIDAE 731 CESTODA Nine species of cestodeswere collectedby the writers;of these, 6 were adult, and 3 were larval forms.Cestodes, in general,were uncommon.in tree squirrels,but abundantin groundsquirrels from some localitics. ANOPLOCEPHALIDAE 1. Catenotaeniapusilla (Goeze, 1782) (11, 14, 18, 21). Found in the small intestineof the host,this cestodewas collectedby the writersfrom one fox squirrel,and fromthree northern flying squirrels. Katz (1938) recorded what was probablythis species fromthe southerngray squirreland the fox squirrel.All infectionswere light, consisting of but a singleworm each, except fol one animal whichcontained two worms.The life cycle of C. pusilla has recentlybeen elucidated by Joyeauxand Baer (1945), and the intermediatehost was shown to be a mite. These workers,as a resultof theirinvestigations, removedthe genus fromthe familyDilepididae, and placed it in the family Anoplocephalidae. 2. Andryasciuri Rausch, 1947 (18). Parasiticin the small intestineof tha host, the presentspecies was taken twice from the northernflying squirrel. Another memberof the genus, A. primordialisDouthitt, 1915, has been recordedfrom North Americansquirrels, but we did not encounterit. Unfor- tunately,we were not able to obtain enough specimensof the host animal to determinehow commonlyA. sciurioccurs, or whatits geographicaldistribu- tion mightbe. Althoughthe life cycleof cestodesof this genus is not known, the intermediateform is possiblyfound in a mite,as is the case withthe other membersof the familywhere the life cycleis known. The helminthsfound in the two speciesof flyingsquirrels examined by us differedsufficiently