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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #317564
Title: First Report of Protechinostoma mucronisertulatum (Echinostomatidae) in a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) from Saskatchewan, Canada

Author
item ROTHENBURGER, JAMIE - University Of Guelph
item Hoberg, Eric
item WAGNER, BRENT - University Of Saskatchewan

Submitted to: Comparative Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/26/2015
Publication Date: 1/20/2016
Citation: Rothenburger, J.L., Hoberg, E.P., Wagner, B. 2016. First Report of Protechinostoma mucronisertulatum (Echinostomatidae) in a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) from Saskatchewan, Canada. Comparative Parasitology. 83(1):111-116.

Interpretive Summary: Trematodes (flat-worm parasites) in the family Echinostomatidae infect terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates including wild and domestic mammals, birds, reptiles and occasionally humans indicative of a considerable capacity for host utilization. We report the occurrence of the fluke Protechinostoma mucronisertulatum in a previously undocumented avian host. These small trematode parasites were found in a debilitated, immature, male sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) during Autumn migration from the central Canadian prairies based on collaborative studies linking the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and the US National Parasite Collection. Coincidental with ongoing and accelerating environmental perturbation and climate change, the introduction, geographic colonization and spread of parasites to new hosts and regions is anticipated. Our report provides basic information about the biodiversity and distribution of parasites in North America. New information will be useful to parasitologists, disease ecologists, and wildlife managers in documenting and understanding the impact of parasites in wild host populations, and the concurrent potential for zoonotic infection.

Technical Abstract: We report a new host record for Protechinostoma mucronisertulatum. These small trematode parasites were found in a debilitated, immature, male sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) during Autumn migration from the Canadian prairies. Necropsy examination identified fibrinonecrotizing and ulcerative jejunitis with a focal perforation and associated local fibrinous coelomitis. Cross-sections of P. mucronisertulatum were present within lesions, although their role in the pathogenesis of these lesions is undetermined. Prior reports of natural infections attributed to these flukes are rare, and have been limited primarily to sora rails from the central North American flyway. Specimens in the sandhill crane were morphologically consistent with the original description; we provide the first complete series of measurements from flukes derived from a natural infection.