Eastern Box Turtle Parasites 

 Table 1. Helminths collected from 117 turtles from North Carolina. 



85 



Infection 



Parasite 



Number 



Percent 



(%) Range 



X 



SE 



Platyhelminthes: Digenea 

 Brachycoeliidae 

 Brachycoelium salamandrae 



3/117 



2.6 



7-9 



8.3 



0.67 



Telorchidae 













Telorchis robustus 



35/117 



30 



1-295 



37.5 



10.8 



Nematoda: 













Molineidae 













Oswaldocruzia sp. 



97/117 



83 



1-38 



7.3 



0.73 



Cosmocercoididae 













Cosmocercoides dukae 



24/117 



20.5 



1-241 



22.3 



10.4 



Aplectana sp. 

 Kathlaniidae 



7/117 



6 



1-15 



4.0 



1.8 



Spironoura affinis 



89/117 



76 



1-151 



32.0 



4.0 



Camallanidae 













Serpinema microcephalus 

 Physalopteridae 



Physaloptera sp. 

 Acanthocephala 

 Oligacanthorhynchidae 



Macracanthorhynchus ingens 



1/117 



3/117 



1/117 



0.9 



2.6 



0.9 



1-3 



2.67 



.88 



Oswaldocruzia sp. (82.9%), Spironoura affinis Leidy, 1856 (76.1%), 

 Telorchis robustus Goldberger, 1991 (29.9%), and Cosmocercoides dukae 

 (Holl, 1928) (20.5%). An additional five species were considered peripheral 

 with a prevalence of <15%. No extraintestinal helminths or microfilariae 

 were found. 



We found a morphologically distinct and unnamed species of 

 Oswaldocruzia in the stomach of box turtles. Spicular morphology 

 differs substantially from O. pipiens Walton, 1929 from amphibian 

 hosts. Both the spicules and the dorsal ray of males are substantially 

 larger than those of O. pipiens, although the species in the box turtles 

 is smaller in all other respects. The prevalence of infection was 82.9% 

 (97/117), making this the most common helminth parasite encountered. 

 The mean intensity of infection was 7.3 worms per infected turtle 

 with no significant difference between any age or sex classes (P = 

 0.30). 



Spironoura affinis infected 76.1% (89/117) with a mean intensity 

 of 32 nematodes per turtle. The range in intensity was 1-151. The 

 difference in intensity of infection with S. affinis was nearly significant 

 between adults and juveniles (P = .056); means for males were 20 ± 

 4.0 (SE), females 17 ± 4.6, and juveniles 34.7 ± 8.4. Pairwise contrasts 



