Key to Acanthocephala Reported in Waterfowl ,s . 9]-4. .~ UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR . A3 Fish and Wildlife Service I Resource Publication 173 no . 173 Resource Publication This publication of the Fish and Wildlife ervice is on of a eri e of emitechni cal or instructional materials dealing with investigations related to wildlife and fish. Each i published as a eparate paper. The Service distributes a limited number of these reports fo r the u e ofF deral and tate agencies and cooperators. A list of recent i ues appears on inside back cover. U.S. FISH & vJ L .t..Jlf'E SE VICE Natleaal Wetl ~ n." s " eaearcb Coat. NASA • Slieoll Co ..p .. ter Coaploa 1010 Gauae Beule•af"d s&Well, LA 70411 opies of this publication may b obtained from the Publication nit, U. Fish and Wildlife ervice, 1atomic Building, Room 14 , Wa hington, DC 20240, or may be purchased from the ational T chnical Information Service ( TIS), 52 5 Port Royal Road, Springfield , VA 22161. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McDonald, Malcolm Edwin, 1915- Key to Acanthocephala reported in waterfowl. (Resource publication I nited State Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service ; 173) Bibliography: p. upt. of Docs. no.: I 49.66:173 1. Acanthocephala-Identification. 2. Waterfowl­ Parasites-Identification. 3. Birds- Parasited-Identification. I. Title. II. Series: Resource publication (U.S. Fish and Wildlife ervice) ; 173. 914.A3 no. 173 333.95'4'0973 8-600312 [QL39l.A2) [639. 9'7841) Key to Acanthocephala Reported in Waterfowl By Malcolm E. McDonald l . ..... H ~ ll & "ll UII I-1- ~ 1-H\ ' IC t- T OF THE INTERIOR E Resourc Publication 173 Wa hington, D. • 1988 Contents Pag Introduction 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Checklist of Acanthocephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 3 Key to Families and Genera 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 Guide to Identification of Species 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 Keys to Species 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 • 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 • 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 References 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 44 Ill Key to Acanthocephala Reported m Waterfowl b Malcolm E. McDonald 1 U.S. Fish and Wildlif e e1--vice ational Wildlife Health Re earch Cente?· 6006 ch?-o der Road Madison, Wi consin 53711 Introduction even spherical. The probo ci ma b w II n in a narrow or wide band; expansion may produce a p ar­ This is the third part of a continuing series on shaped (pyriform) structur , of which th narrow helminths reported in waterfowl (McDonald 1974, end may be point d or rounded, hort or long ( 1981). Coots and moorhens (in Family Rallidae, Acanthocephalan Anatomy). An important f ature Order Gruiformes) are incl ud ed with the Anatidae of the keys is the numb r of rows of hook on the of Anseriformes. The goal of these studies i com­ proboscis and the numb r of hook in each row. A plete coverage of waterfowl helminths of the world, coll ections have increa ed in th numb r of p ci ­ although the original incentive-inadequate knowl­ mens examin ed, they have also increas d in th edge of the parasites of orth American water­ amount of variation record d, o that th rang in fowl-is less true now. World coverage is desirable the number of hook ha increa d. Th hooks ar because the world distribution of the family, tribes, always numbered from the anterior nd· b cause th and even many species of waterfowl often results arrangement of row generally shows no differenc , in world distribution of parasites. it is rarely indicated. Length of a hook i indicat d The format of this key follows that of the other from the anterior tip to the posterior nd; th ho k in the series: a checklist of species, a general key is external on the proboscis, th root i int rna! and to families and genera, a guide to identification of is giv en s parat ly. pecies, and keys to species of each genus that has Eggs, which ar routin ly used to identify speci more than one species reported in waterfowl. Thi in the k ys, are r ally developing embryo . Thr J group is the smallest of the series, with 52 pecie , membranes, referred to a 'shell s," ar pr sent· of which 11 may be considered accidental, normally the middle shell in egg of Polymorphu i thickest, belonging in birds of other order (two also normally ha an elongate hape, and how extension at each mature onl y in marine mammals-although recorded pole of the embryo. o taxonomic significance is in many birds-and one in freshwater rodents). One pre ently known for the fibrils on the outer surface species is reported only from domestic waterfowl of eggs that were recently recorded in everal and one on ly experimentally from domestic duck­ species; hypothetically, they rmght serve to entangle lings, whereas ix other specie have been reported the eggs among the vegetation, where they are more from both wild and domestic waterfowl. The fre­ likely to be ingested. quency of occurrence and status of hosts in the Intermediate hosts of Acanthocephala have been checkli st have been based on the literature. All id entified as crustacea of only a few orders: Amphi­ Acantho ephala in waterfowl are found in the small poda, Isopoda, and Decapoda; they are almost totally intestine (usually in the po terior portion) and the aquatic, intermediate in size, and feed on dead plant large intestine. and animal r mains. everal use fish as transport Probosces usually are ovoid or sometime ellip­ or paratenic hosts; one is known to u e nakes and tical. They may be elongate-narrow or wide, or frogs as transport hosts to birds. · Many species (perhaps a majority) are distin­ 1 Retired; presenl addre : 1017 Magnoli a Lane, 1adi on. \~ i s. gujshed by a yell ow or orange color and may readily 5371 3. be een with the unaided eye as orange bodies in 1 the intermediate host; however, at least one com­ pronounced pathological ffect on their intestinal mon acanthocephalan of waterfowl in Eurasia (Fili­ wall .) Few of the previously cited paper· included coUis anati in Asellus communis) appear as a whit detailed studies of the dead birds, and the causes of body. everal species cause a distinct change in th death were u ually assumed. In a study of parasite behavior of the intermediate host which render it numbers in eiders in Scotland in which Acantho­ more vulnerable to predation by the final host cephala regularly occurred, Thompson (19 5) com­ (Bethel and Holmes 1973, 1974, 1977; Holmes and mented, "In this study there is no evidence to show Bethel 1972). Life cycles generally require at least that P. botulus increa ed the mortality rate of 2 months for completion. The intermediate ho t eiders." AI though he collected dead eiders regular­ species are preferred foods of many juvenile and ly, no determination of the cause of death wa adult waterfowl. attempted. An experimental study of antagoni tic Van Cleave (1918) believed it was ignificant that reactions between clas e of helminths during multi­ only one species of Acanthocephala had ever been ple infections (Petrov and Egizbaeva 1972) showed found in an individual host, and there were no significant reduction in the ize and number of records of the occurrence of more than one genu hymenolepidids when pr sent with polymorphid in in any host species. This is no longer true. Coryno­ the small intestine. soma and Polymorphus, for example, repeatedly As with other groups of helminth of waterfowl occur in the same bird, and several species of Poly­ the recent major references to Acanthocephala morphu have been recorded for the same host (at originated in Rus ia: Petrochenko (195 , 1971b least three are recorded in the same individual). [English translation]) and Petrochenko and A few members of Acanthocephala cause consider­ Kotel'nikov (1962). Then a erie of tudie by able damage and even death in waterfowl. Two Khokhlova (1966a, 1966b, 1971, and 1977) species in particular, Polymorphus minutus and terminated in a partial update of Petrochenko Filicollis anatis, have repeatedly been cited in (Khokhlova 1978), actuall y using the data of Schmidt Europe and Asia, in domestic waterfowl as well a (cited below). Studies of the biology and life hi torie in wild birds (Petrochenko 1958, 197lb; McDonald of these forms up to that time are li sted in McDonald 1969b; Macdonald eta!.