Trematode Parasites of Marine Birds in Antarctica: The Distribution of Gymnophallus deliciosus (Olsson 1893)

Eric P. Hoberg, Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture

Document Type Article

Abstract

During continuing studies of avian helminths at Palmer Station, Antarctica (Hoberg, 1983) trematodes were found as parasites only of charadriiform birds. Digeneans were not represented in extensive collections (including several thousand specimens of helminths) from spheniscids, procellariids, and phalacrocoracids.

Gymnophallus deliciosus (Olsson, 1893) was the only species of trematode found in birds examined during the present study. It was found as a parasite in the gallbladder of three species of charadriiforms: American sheathbills, Chionis alba (Gmelin); southern black-backed gulls, Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein; and south polar skuas, Catharacta maccormicki (Saunders) collected in the immediate vicinity of Palmer Station during the austral summer of 1982-1983.