94 Michael D. Stuart and Grover C. Miller 



Table 2. Continued. 



Number 

 Infected/Examined Locality Reference 



Physalopteridae 

 Physaloptera terrapenis Hill, 



1941 7/47 in Ok. Hill (1941) 



T. ornata 

 Spiruridae 

 Spiroxys constricta 

 (Leidy, 1856) 7/16 La. Acholonu and 



Amy (1970) 

 Penn.? Leidy (1856) 

 S. contorta (Rudolphi, 1819) 11/63 111. Martin (1973) 



Gnathostomatidae 

 Gnathostoma procyonis 

 Chandler, 1942 3/4 La. Ash (1962) 



laeve (Miiller) (=D. gracile Rafinesque) and suggested that amphibian infections 

 occurred from ingestion of infected molluscs. Baker (19786) reported that 

 C. dukae larvae burrow through the skin of toads and migrate through the 

 body. This versatility in ability to use such different definitive hosts suggested 

 to Baker that C. dukae represented an early stage of parasitic adaptation. 



Parasites and Host Diet 



Surveys from various areas within the range of Terrapene Carolina 

 indicate that a broad range of helminth parasites infect the box turtle 

 (Table 2). In North Carolina, parasite presence appears to be regulated 

 primarily by diet. Recognizable items found in the gastrointestinal 

 tract of 72 turtles, in order of frequency of occurrence, were snails 

 (Gastropoda) - 59%, insects (Insecta) - 43%, sowbugs (Isopoda) - 

 40%, plant material (primarily fungi) - 32%, slugs (Gastropoda) - 

 7%, rodents (Mammalia) - 5.5%, earthworms (Oligochaeta) - 3%, and 

 millipeds (Diplopoda) - 3%. Cosmocercoides dukae, Brachycoelium spp., 

 and Telorchis robustus have all been shown to use molluscan intermedi- 

 ate hosts (Krull 1935, 1936; Ogren 1953; Jordan and Byrd 1967). 

 Our evidence strongly suggests that Spironora affinis and Oswaldocruzia 

 sp. also might be capable of using molluscs to reach the definitive 

 host. The records for Serpinema microcephalia and Physaloptera sp. 

 probably represent rare or accidental infections. The life cycle of most 

 physalopterans is unknown; those that are known use invertebrate 

 intermediate hosts. The specimen of Macroacanthorthynchus ingens 

 indicates recent ingestion of a scarabid beetle. Considering the relatively 

 high incidence of insects and sowbugs in the diet and the semi- 

 aquatic nature of the turtles, the absence of acanthocephalans is some- 



