Some bird Helminths from Antigua

Abstract

The material on which this article is based was sent to Dr. R. T. Leiper, C.M.G., F.R.S., by Mr. L. R. Hutson, Veterinary Officer, Antigua, to both of whom my thanks are due. Most of the cestodes had already been described by Prof. J. G. Baer and recorded by him in 1940. The rest of the collection consists mainly of nematodes but there are, however, representatives of all three groups of helminths—Trematoda, Cestoda and Acanthocephala as well as the Nematoda. The hosts were all described by the local popular names and I am much indebted to Mr. Kinnear, of the Natural History Museum, London, for identifying them.The only trematode in the collection is the Strigeid, Apharyngostrigca cornu Goeze, 1800, which had been removed from the large gut of a Yellow crowned night heron, Nycticorax violaceous. It has already been recorded from a number of birds belonging to the Ciconidae and to the Ardeidae but not from this particular host. It is not uncommon in Europe and the United States but has not been reported in the British West Indies before. There are two specimens both attached to the mucous membrane but they were easily removed and seemed to have caused no pathological changes. They are mature and contain eggs and the vitellaria are strongly developed, obscuring most of the other organs.