Helminths of Some Seabirds from North Carolina 



Ronald W. Mobley and Grover C. Miller 



Department of Zoology, 

 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27650 



ABSTRACT. — Eighty-five birds of the orders Procellariiformes, 

 Pelecaniformes, and Charadriiformes were examined for helminths 

 between May 1977 and September 1979. At least nine species of 

 helminths were recovered — one species of Digenea, at least six of 

 Cestoda, one Nematoda, and one Acanthocephala. The following new 

 host records were obtained: Opisthovarium elongation and Falsifilicollis 

 altmani in the common tern; Tetrabothrius laccocephalus in the north- 

 ern fulmar and Audubon's shearwater; T. minor in Cory's shearwater; 

 T sp. in the red-billed tropicbird; and T. filiformis , Choanotaenia sp., 

 and Contracaecum sp. in Wilson's storm petrel. Feeding habits of the 

 hosts were directly reflected by their helminth fauna. Procellariiform 

 and pelecaniform hosts showed a predominance of helminths that 

 probably use fish or squid as intermediate hosts, whereas charadrii- 

 form hosts contained helminths whose intermediate hosts are either 

 snails or terrestrial crabs. 



INTRODUCTION 



Much literature is available on the helminths of sea birds. Most 

 early studies were concerned primarily with morphology and taxonomy. 

 The best pre- 1900 descriptions of these helminths are found in the 

 works of Diesing (1850), Fuhrmann (1899), and Loennberg (1899) as 

 reported by Baer (1954). The twentieth century marked the beginning of 

 polar exploration and consequently provided increased access to sea 

 birds for parasitological study. Earliest reports were by Linstow (1905) 

 on the Russian Polar Expedition, 1900-1903; Raillet and Henry (1912) 

 on the cestodes from the French Antarctic Expedition; and Leiper and 

 Atkinson (1914, 1915) on helminths recovered from the British Antarc- 

 tic (Terra Nova) Expedition, 1910-1913. Later reports included those of 

 Fuhrmann (1921) on the German South Polar Expedition, 1901-1903; 

 Johnston (1937) and Mawson (1953) on the Australian National 

 Antarctic Research Expeditions; and Johnston and Mawson (1945) and 

 Prudhoe (1967) on parasitic helminths collected by the British, Austral- 

 ian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-1931. 



Cestodes have probably been the most studied helminths of sea 

 birds and literature is abundant. Spatlich (1909), Ransom (1909), Nybelin 

 (1916), and Szpotanska (1925, 1929) all made important descriptive con- 

 tributions. Linton (1927) in America, Tseng (1932, 1933) in China, 

 Yamaguti (1935) in Japan, and Joyeux and Baer (1935, 1939) in France 

 described specimens from their respective countries. Later studies cen- 



Brimleyana No. 7:6 1 -68. July 1 98 1 . 61 



