Helminths of the Salamanders Gyrinophilus Porphyriticus, Pseudotriton Ruber, and Pseudotriton Montanus (Caudata: Plethodontidae) From Ohio

Abstract

Examination of 79 Gyrinophilus porphyriticm (Green), 13 Pseudotriton ruber (Latreille) and 9 Pseudotriton montanus Baird as a part of a general survey of the helminth fauna of Ohio amphibia yielded 9 species of helminths. Species recovered from G. porphyriticus were the trematodes *Allocreadium pseudotritoni Rankin 1937, Plagioporus gyrinophilt Catalano and Etges 1981, and Brachycoelium salamandrae (Froelich 1789) Luhe 1909; the cestode *Bothriocephalus rarus Thomas 1937; the nematodes *Capillaria inequalis Walton 1935, *Cosmocercoides dukae (Holl 1928) Wilkie 1930, and Omeia papillocauda Rankin 1937; and the acanthocephalan *Fessisentis necturorum Nickol 1967. Pseudotriton ruber harbored A. pseudotritoni, P. gyrinophili, B. salamandrae, *B. rarus, *C. inequalis and *C . dukae. Pseudotriton montanus was infested with A . pseudotritoni and *Megalodiscus temperatus (Stafford 1905) Harwood 1932. A review of the literature reveals 16 species previously reported for these caudate hosts; of these, 5 were encountered in the present study.