Bursey, C. R.

Fayton, T. J.

McAllister, C. T.

Surf, A.

Tumlison, R.

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 70 Article 492016Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern RiverOtter, Lontra canadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae),from ArkansasC. T. McAllisterEastern Oklahoma State College, cmcallister@se.eduA. SurfPennsylvania State University-ShenangoR. TumlisonPennsylvania State University-ShenangoC. R. BurseyUniversity of Southern MississippiFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Population Biology Commons, and the Zoology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact ccmiddle@uark.edu, drowens@uark.edu,scholar@uark.edu.Recommended CitationMcAllister, C. T.; Surf, A.; Tumlison, R.; and Bursey, C. R. (2016) "Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter, Lontracanadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae), from Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 70 , Article 49.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol70/iss1/49Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter,1Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College,State University, Arkadelphia, AR 71999,*Correspondence: cmcallister@se.eduRunning Title: Helminths of River Otter from Arkansas(Schreber)south to northern California and nwest and from Newfoundland southward to Florida inthe east (Reid 2006found statewide in rivers, creeks, bayous, and lakesbordered by timber (Sealander and Heidt 1990).river otter primaconsume aquatic invertebratesbirds,Larivièreand Reasor 2007several survprevious studies wereUS states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas,Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,Michigan, Montana, New York, North Carolina,Oklahoma,and Ontario, Canada (summarized by Fleming et al.1977et al. 1984, Addison et al. 1988,Forrester 1992, Hoberg et al. 1997,Kimber andDronen 2009,2015canadensisin our knowledge, particularly for populations inArkansbeen reported(Tumlison et al. 1986). Here, we report more detailedinformation on a survey of gastrointestinal helminthparasites ofadult river otter carcassesobtained from licensed fur buyers in Arkansas (Clark (Lonoke (Prairie (The northern river otter,The river otter has been a common, Stuht 1978,).During theand other mammalsAlthough it appears the helminth fauna ofas. Indeed, only a single nematode parasite hasnnnranges from Alaska and most of Canadaand WaltonOregonis fairly well known, there are obvious gapsL. canadensis= 1), Crawford (= 1), Pike (= 94eysKollias 2000,Crait et al. 2015), Pulaski (Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, University of Southern Mississippi, Oceanrily feeds).on its helminth parasites. These,Shoop and Corkum 1981,from river otters2013C.T. McAllister). In Arkansas,1998,conducted oand Tennessee, and Newfoundland–n2015 fur trapping seasons,= 4nJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016Melquist et al. 2003, Ligonfrom the state.(21 males, 17n), Polk (= 1),on fish, but will also, amphibians, reptiles,(Tumlison et al. 1986Feldhamer et al. 2003,, McAllister and Fayton= 5) , Franklin (Scott (Lontra canadensisn specimens from 15Snyn1*, A. Surforthern Utah in theL. canadensisKollars et al= 5nMustelidae), from Arkansas3Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State Universityder et al. 1989,from Arkansasfemales) were),= 1),subject ofPerry (St. Francis2Tumlisonn, R. TumlisonThe. 1997,n = 2),= 2),n = 1),is,L.382842(nand Yell (were obtained frozen, but many had remained aambient temperatures for 24 hrsfrozen. These conditions may have limited the diversityof parasites we were able to locate. After thawing, amidgastrointestinal tract, which was split lengthwisethe esophagus to anusthentissuecontents rinsed in 0.9%removed from the stomach and upper small intestine,transferror Ehrlich's hematoxylin, cleared in methyl salicylateand mounted in Canada balsam. Nematodeacanthocephalanwere examined as temporary mounts in glycerol.vouchHenderson State UniversitHSU 719, 763, 784, 809, 867, 870; parasite voucherswere deposited in the Harold W. ManterFig. 1. Sixteen counties in Arkansas wherecollected., C.R. BurseyIdabel, OK 74745,= 1), Sebastian (-ventral incision was made toexamined for helminths.were cut and placed in Petri dishes and theirer specimens (skulls only) were deposited in thened toLontra canadensis= 1) counties3, and T.J. Fayton70% v/vsnoriginally fixed in 70%2Department of Biology, HendersonSprings, MS 39564= 2),anethanol, stained in acetocarmine-Union ((Fig. 1).d its contents rinsed into a sievew/vy Collection, Arkadelphia,Shenango, Sharon, PA 68421Several 15 cm segmentssaline. Trematodes were4n = 1),Most of the carcassesor more before being(Carnivora:White (Laboratory ofriver otters wereexpose thev/vns andethanol= 1)fromHosttofas284Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70 [2016], Art. 49Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 2016Helminths of River Otter from ArkansasJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016285Parasitology (HWML), University of Nebraska, Lincoln,NE.A total of 37 of 38 (97%) of the L. canadensisharbored at least 1 helminth; 1 (3%) of the river ottersfrom Polk County harbored a multiple infection of 2helminths. Two specimens positive for the nematode,Dracunculus insignis (Leidy, 1858) will be reportedelsewhere by RT. An annotated list of the parasitesfound follows:Trematoda: Digenea: Echinostomatidae,Bashkirovitrema canadense Dronen, 2009Twenty-four of 38 (63%) of the river otters werefound to be infected with B. canadense (HWML 94121)in the gastrointestinal tract; the mean intensity was 8.4 ±18.2, range 1–61 worms. Dronen (2009) erected B.canadense to accommodate specimens ofBashkirovitrema Skrjabin, 1944 harvested from theintestine of mustelids, including L. canadensis and theAmerican mink, Neovison vision (Schreber), fromFlorida, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina,and Ontario, Canada (Dronen 2009) and found thisspecies to be morphologically most similar toBashkirovitrema incrassatum (Diesing, 1850), whichparasitizes the Neotropical otter, Lontra longicaudis(Olfers, 1818), in Brazil, South America. Recently,McAllister et al. (2015) reported B. canadensis fromOklahoma; we report this species from Arkansas for thefirst time.Strigeidida: Clinostomatidae, Clinostomum sp.Seven Clinostomum sp. (HWML 94120) werefound in the stomach of a single (3%) L. canadensiscollected on 16 February 2015 from the Little MissouriRiver, Clark County. This parasite (yellow grub) istypically found in the metacercarial stage in fishes andamphibians with fish-eating birds (herons, egrets)serving as definitive hosts (McAllister et al. 2010). Inthe current case, this parasite is considered anincidental finding of a host which has a piscivorousdiet. However, this is the first time Clinostomum sp.has been reported from a river otter.Nematoda: Dioctophymatoidea: Dioctophymatidae,Dioctophyma renale (Goeze, 1782)Twelve of 38 (32%) of L. canadensis fromCrawford, Franklin, Pike, Polk, Prairie, Pulaski,Sebastian, St. Francis and Yell counties harbored larvaland pre-adults of this nematode (HWML 94122) in thelarge intestine; the mean intensity was 3.8 ± 9.0, range1–31 worms. This cosmopolitan nematode, oftenreferred to as the giant kidney worm has been foundencapsulated in fishes; larvae can be transmitted alongthe food chain of paratenic hosts (Karmanova 1961). Itis possible that American bullfrogs (Lithobatescatesbeianus) become infected with D. renale byeating infected frogs of different species (Mace andAnderson 1975). Definitive hosts are carnivorousmammals, notably mink, wolves, coyotes, foxes, dogs,raccoons, and weasels. Dioctophyma renale has beenpreviously reported from Arkansas (Hallberg 1953)and from L. canadensis from unknown localities(Kimber et al. 2000). However, we report D. renale inriver otters from Arkansas for the first time.Acanthocephala gen sp. (unknown genus)Three female acanthocephalans (HWML 94123)were found in the large intestine of 3 of 38 (8%) riverotters collected in February 2014, 2 hosts from Prairieand 1 host from Scott counties. As with theClinostomum sp. found herein, this is considered to bean incidental finding of river otter food habits. Otheracanthocephalans, also considered incidental findings,have been previously reported in L. canadensis fromAlabama, Alaska, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee,Wyoming and Newfoundland, Canada (Schmidt 1969,Smith and Threlfall 1973, Fleming et al. 1977,Forrester 1992, Hoberg et al. 1997, Kollars et al. 1997,Crait et al. 2015).In summary, we document a low parasite speciesrichness as well a new distributional record for atrematode parasite of L. canadensis in Arkansas. Theparasite list for river otters is much more extensive (seeKimber and Kollias 2000 for summary). Therefore, inorder to further increase our knowledge of its parasitesin the state, we suggest future surveys to includeexamination of fresh material, their major visceralorgans, and specimens from other counties of the state,particularly northern Arkansas.AcknowledgmentsWe thank the trappers who provided otter carcassesand Dr. S.L. Gardner (HWML) for expert curatorialassistance. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commissionissued a Scientific Collecting Permit to RT.Literature CitedAddison EM, MA Strickland, AB Stephenson andJ Hoeve. 1988. Cranial lesions possibly associatedwith Skrjabingylus (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea)infections in martens, fishers, and otters. CanadianJournal of Zoology 66:2155–2159.285Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70 [2016], Art. 49http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol70/iss1/49C.T. McAllister, A. Surf, R. Tumlison, C.R. Bursey, and T.J. FaytonJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016286Crait JR, AD McIntosh, EC Greiner and M Ben-David. 2015. The influence of changing preyavailability on the prevalence of Diphyllobothriumin river otters from Yellowstone National Park.Journal of Parasitology 101:240–243.Dronen ND. 2009. Re-evaluation of the speciescomposition of Bashkirovitrema Skrjabin, 1944(Digenea: Echinostomatidae), with the descriptionof two new species of this genus and the proposal ofKostadinovatrema novaeguiniense n. g., n. sp.Systematic Parasitology 74:169–185.Feldhamer GA, BC Thompson and JA Chapman(eds). 2003. Wild mammals of North America:biology, management, and conservation. 2nd edition.The John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore).1225 p.Fleming WJ, CF Dixon and JW Lovett. 1977.Helminth parasites of river otters (Lutra canadensis)from southeastern Alabama. Proceedings of theHelminthological Society of Washington 44:131-35.Forrester DJ. 1992. Parasites and diseases of wildmammals in Florida. University of Florida Press(Gainesville). 459 p.Hallberg CW. 1953. Dioctophyma renale (Goeze,1782) a study of the migration routes to the kidneysof mammals and resultant pathology. Transactionsof the American Microscopical Society 72:351–363.Hoberg EP, CJ Henry, OR Hedstrom and RA Grove.1997. Intestinal helminths of river otters (Lutracanadensis) from the Pacific Northwest. Journal ofParasitology 83:105–110.Karmanova EM. 1961. The first report of Dioctophymerenale in fish. Akademi Nauka SSSR 11:118–121.Kimber KR and GV Kollias II. 2000. Infectious andparasitic diseases and contaminant-related problemsof North American river otters (Lontra canadensis):a review. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine31:452–472.Kollars TM, RE Lizotte and WE Wilhelm. 1997.Gastrointestinal helminths in the river otter (Lutracanadensis) in Tennessee. Journal of Parasitology83:158–160.Larivière S and LR Walton. 1998. Lontra canadensis.Mammalian Species 587:1–8.Ligon DB and J Reasor. 2007. Predation on alligatorsnapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) bynorthern river otters (Lontra canadensis).Southwestern Naturalist 52:608–610.Mace TF and RC Anderson. 1975. Development of thegiant kidney worm, Dioctophyma renale (Goeze,1782) (Nematoda: Dioctophymatoidea). CanadianJournal of Zoology 53:1552–1568.McAllister CT and TJ Fayton. 2015. Bashkirovitremacanadense (Trematoda: Digenea: Echinostomatidae)from northern river otter, Lontra canadensis(Carnivora: Mustelidae), from southeasternOklahoma. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academyof Science 95:67–70.McAllister CT, CR Bursey, JA Crawford, ARKuhns, C Shaffer and SE Trauth. 2010.Metacercariae of Clinostomum (Trematoda:Digenea) from three species of Ambystoma(Caudata: Ambystomatidae) from Arkansas andIllinois, U.S.A. Comparative Parasitology 77:25–30.Melquist WE, PJ Polechla Jr and D Toweill. 2003.River otter: Lontra canadensis. In Feldhamer GA,Thompson BC and Chapman JA, editors. Wildmammals of North America: biology, management,and conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press(Baltimore). p 708–734.Reid FA. 2006. Mammals of North America. HoughtonMifflin Company (Boston). 579 p.Sealander JA and GA Heidt. 1990. Arkansasmammals: their natural history, classification, anddistribution. University of Arkansas Press(Fayetteville). 308 p.Schmidt GD. 1979. Paracanthocephalus rauschi sp. n.(Acanthocephala: Paracanthocephalidae) fromgrayling, Thymallus arcticus (Pallas) in Alaska.Canadian Journal of Zoology 47:383–385.Shoop WL and KC Corkum. 1981. Some trematodesof mammals in Louisiana, USA. Tulane UniversityStudies in Zoology and Botany 22:109–121.Smith FR and W Threlfall. 1973. Helminths of somemammals from Newfoundland. American MidlandNaturalist 90:215–218.Snyder DE, AN Hamir, VF Nettles andCE Rupprecht. 1989. Dirofilaria immitis in a riverotter (Lutra canadensis) from Louisiana. Journal ofWildlife Diseases 25:629.Stuht JN. 1978. Paragonomiasis in a river otter. State ofMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWildlife Division Report Number 2824, CaseReport (WPL No. 74-741). Michigan StateUniversity, Lansing, Michigan.Tumlison R, R Smith, J Hudspeth, PJ Polechia andAW King. 1984. Dracunculiasis in some Arkansascarnivores. Journal of Parasitology 70:440.Tumlison R, AW King and VR McDaniel. 1986. Theriver otter in Arkansas. IV. Winter food habits ineastern Arkansas. Proceedings of the ArkansasAcademy of Science 40:76–77.286Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70 [2016], Art. 49Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 2016

Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae), from Arkansas

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 70 Article 49 2016 Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae), from Arkansas C. T. McAllister Eastern Oklahoma State College, cmcallister@se.edu A. Surf Henderson State University R. Tumlison Henderson State University C. R. Bursey Pennsylvania State University-Shenango T. J. Fayton University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Population Biology Commons, and the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation McAllister, C. T.; Surf, A.; Tumlison, R.; Bursey, C. R.; and Fayton, T. J. (2016) "Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae), from Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 70 , Article 49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54119/jaas.2016.7041 Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol70/iss1/49 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter,1Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College,State University, Arkadelphia, AR 71999,*Correspondence: cmcallister@se.eduRunning Title: Helminths of River Otter from Arkansas(Schreber)south to northern California and nwest and from Newfoundland southward to Florida inthe east (Reid 2006found statewide in rivers, creeks, bayous, and lakesbordered by timber (Sealander and Heidt 1990).river otter primaconsume aquatic invertebratesbirds,Larivièreand Reasor 2007several survprevious studies wereUS states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas,Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,Michigan, Montana, New York, North Carolina,Oklahoma,and Ontario, Canada (summarized by Fleming et al.1977et al. 1984, Addison et al. 1988,Forrester 1992, Hoberg et al. 1997,Kimber andDronen 2009,2015canadensisin our knowledge, particularly for populations inArkansbeen reported(Tumlison et al. 1986). Here, we report more detailedinformation on a survey of gastrointestinal helminthparasites ofadult river otter carcassesobtained from licensed fur buyers in Arkansas (Clark (Lonoke (Prairie (The northern river otter,The river otter has been a common, Stuht 1978,).During theand other mammalsAlthough it appears the helminth fauna ofas. Indeed, only a single nematode parasite hasnnnranges from Alaska and most of Canadaand WaltonOregonis fairly well known, there are obvious gapsL. canadensis= 1), Crawford (= 1), Pike (= 94eysKollias 2000,Crait et al. 2015), Pulaski (Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, University of Southern Mississippi, Oceanrily feeds).on its helminth parasites. These,Shoop and Corkum 1981,from river otters2013C.T. McAllister). In Arkansas,1998,conducted oand Tennessee, and Newfoundland–n2015 fur trapping seasons,= 4nJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016Melquist et al. 2003, Ligonfrom the state.(21 males, 17n), Polk (= 1),on fish, but will also, amphibians, reptiles,(Tumlison et al. 1986Feldhamer et al. 2003,, McAllister and Fayton= 5) , Franklin (Scott (Lontra canadensisn specimens from 15Snyn1*, A. Surforthern Utah in theL. canadensisKollars et al= 5nMustelidae), from Arkansas3Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State Universityder et al. 1989,from Arkansasfemales) were),= 1),subject ofPerry (St. Francis2Tumlisonn, R. TumlisonThe. 1997,n = 2),= 2),n = 1),is,L.382842(nand Yell (were obtained frozen, but many had remained aambient temperatures for 24 hrsfrozen. These conditions may have limited the diversityof parasites we were able to locate. After thawing, amidgastrointestinal tract, which was split lengthwisethe esophagus to anusthentissuecontents rinsed in 0.9%removed from the stomach and upper small intestine,transferror Ehrlich's hematoxylin, cleared in methyl salicylateand mounted in Canada balsam. Nematodeacanthocephalanwere examined as temporary mounts in glycerol.vouchHenderson State UniversitHSU 719, 763, 784, 809, 867, 870; parasite voucherswere deposited in the Harold W. ManterFig. 1. Sixteen counties in Arkansas wherecollected., C.R. BurseyIdabel, OK 74745,= 1), Sebastian (-ventral incision was made toexamined for helminths.were cut and placed in Petri dishes and theirer specimens (skulls only) were deposited in thened toLontra canadensis= 1) counties3, and T.J. Fayton70% v/vsnoriginally fixed in 70%2Department of Biology, HendersonSprings, MS 39564= 2),anethanol, stained in acetocarmine-Union ((Fig. 1).d its contents rinsed into a sievew/vy Collection, Arkadelphia,Shenango, Sharon, PA 68421Several 15 cm segmentssaline. Trematodes were4n = 1),Most of the carcassesor more before being(Carnivora:White (Laboratory ofriver otters wereexpose thev/vns andethanol= 1)fromHosttofas284Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70 [2016], Art. 49Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 2016Helminths of River Otter from ArkansasJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016285Parasitology (HWML), University of Nebraska, Lincoln,NE.A total of 37 of 38 (97%) of the L. canadensisharbored at least 1 helminth; 1 (3%) of the river ottersfrom Polk County harbored a multiple infection of 2helminths. Two specimens positive for the nematode,Dracunculus insignis (Leidy, 1858) will be reportedelsewhere by RT. An annotated list of the parasitesfound follows:Trematoda: Digenea: Echinostomatidae,Bashkirovitrema canadense Dronen, 2009Twenty-four of 38 (63%) of the river otters werefound to be infected with B. canadense (HWML 94121)in the gastrointestinal tract; the mean intensity was 8.4 ±18.2, range 1–61 worms. Dronen (2009) erected B.canadense to accommodate specimens ofBashkirovitrema Skrjabin, 1944 harvested from theintestine of mustelids, including L. canadensis and theAmerican mink, Neovison vision (Schreber), fromFlorida, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina,and Ontario, Canada (Dronen 2009) and found thisspecies to be morphologically most similar toBashkirovitrema incrassatum (Diesing, 1850), whichparasitizes the Neotropical otter, Lontra longicaudis(Olfers, 1818), in Brazil, South America. Recently,McAllister et al. (2015) reported B. canadensis fromOklahoma; we report this species from Arkansas for thefirst time.Strigeidida: Clinostomatidae, Clinostomum sp.Seven Clinostomum sp. (HWML 94120) werefound in the stomach of a single (3%) L. canadensiscollected on 16 February 2015 from the Little MissouriRiver, Clark County. This parasite (yellow grub) istypically found in the metacercarial stage in fishes andamphibians with fish-eating birds (herons, egrets)serving as definitive hosts (McAllister et al. 2010). Inthe current case, this parasite is considered anincidental finding of a host which has a piscivorousdiet. However, this is the first time Clinostomum sp.has been reported from a river otter.Nematoda: Dioctophymatoidea: Dioctophymatidae,Dioctophyma renale (Goeze, 1782)Twelve of 38 (32%) of L. canadensis fromCrawford, Franklin, Pike, Polk, Prairie, Pulaski,Sebastian, St. Francis and Yell counties harbored larvaland pre-adults of this nematode (HWML 94122) in thelarge intestine; the mean intensity was 3.8 ± 9.0, range1–31 worms. This cosmopolitan nematode, oftenreferred to as the giant kidney worm has been foundencapsulated in fishes; larvae can be transmitted alongthe food chain of paratenic hosts (Karmanova 1961). Itis possible that American bullfrogs (Lithobatescatesbeianus) become infected with D. renale byeating infected frogs of different species (Mace andAnderson 1975). Definitive hosts are carnivorousmammals, notably mink, wolves, coyotes, foxes, dogs,raccoons, and weasels. Dioctophyma renale has beenpreviously reported from Arkansas (Hallberg 1953)and from L. canadensis from unknown localities(Kimber et al. 2000). However, we report D. renale inriver otters from Arkansas for the first time.Acanthocephala gen sp. (unknown genus)Three female acanthocephalans (HWML 94123)were found in the large intestine of 3 of 38 (8%) riverotters collected in February 2014, 2 hosts from Prairieand 1 host from Scott counties. As with theClinostomum sp. found herein, this is considered to bean incidental finding of river otter food habits. Otheracanthocephalans, also considered incidental findings,have been previously reported in L. canadensis fromAlabama, Alaska, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee,Wyoming and Newfoundland, Canada (Schmidt 1969,Smith and Threlfall 1973, Fleming et al. 1977,Forrester 1992, Hoberg et al. 1997, Kollars et al. 1997,Crait et al. 2015).In summary, we document a low parasite speciesrichness as well a new distributional record for atrematode parasite of L. canadensis in Arkansas. Theparasite list for river otters is much more extensive (seeKimber and Kollias 2000 for summary). Therefore, inorder to further increase our knowledge of its parasitesin the state, we suggest future surveys to includeexamination of fresh material, their major visceralorgans, and specimens from other counties of the state,particularly northern Arkansas.AcknowledgmentsWe thank the trappers who provided otter carcassesand Dr. S.L. Gardner (HWML) for expert curatorialassistance. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commissionissued a Scientific Collecting Permit to RT.Literature CitedAddison EM, MA Strickland, AB Stephenson andJ Hoeve. 1988. Cranial lesions possibly associatedwith Skrjabingylus (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea)infections in martens, fishers, and otters. CanadianJournal of Zoology 66:2155–2159.285Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70 [2016], Art. 49https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol70/iss1/49DOI: https://doi.org/10.54119/jaas.2016.7041C.T. McAllister, A. Surf, R. Tumlison, C.R. Bursey, and T.J. FaytonJournal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 70, 2016286Crait JR, AD McIntosh, EC Greiner and M Ben-David. 2015. The influence of changing preyavailability on the prevalence of Diphyllobothriumin river otters from Yellowstone National Park.Journal of Parasitology 101:240–243.Dronen ND. 2009. Re-evaluation of the speciescomposition of Bashkirovitrema Skrjabin, 1944(Digenea: Echinostomatidae), with the descriptionof two new species of this genus and the proposal ofKostadinovatrema novaeguiniense n. g., n. sp.Systematic Parasitology 74:169–185.Feldhamer GA, BC Thompson and JA Chapman(eds). 2003. Wild mammals of North America:biology, management, and conservation. 2nd edition.The John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore).1225 p.Fleming WJ, CF Dixon and JW Lovett. 1977.Helminth parasites of river otters (Lutra canadensis)from southeastern Alabama. Proceedings of theHelminthological Society of Washington 44:131-35.Forrester DJ. 1992. Parasites and diseases of wildmammals in Florida. University of Florida Press(Gainesville). 459 p.Hallberg CW. 1953. Dioctophyma renale (Goeze,1782) a study of the migration routes to the kidneysof mammals and resultant pathology. Transactionsof the American Microscopical Society 72:351–363.Hoberg EP, CJ Henry, OR Hedstrom and RA Grove.1997. Intestinal helminths of river otters (Lutracanadensis) from the Pacific Northwest. Journal ofParasitology 83:105–110.Karmanova EM. 1961. The first report of Dioctophymerenale in fish. Akademi Nauka SSSR 11:118–121.Kimber KR and GV Kollias II. 2000. Infectious andparasitic diseases and contaminant-related problemsof North American river otters (Lontra canadensis):a review. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine31:452–472.Kollars TM, RE Lizotte and WE Wilhelm. 1997.Gastrointestinal helminths in the river otter (Lutracanadensis) in Tennessee. Journal of Parasitology83:158–160.Larivière S and LR Walton. 1998. Lontra canadensis.Mammalian Species 587:1–8.Ligon DB and J Reasor. 2007. Predation on alligatorsnapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) bynorthern river otters (Lontra canadensis).Southwestern Naturalist 52:608–610.Mace TF and RC Anderson. 1975. Development of thegiant kidney worm, Dioctophyma renale (Goeze,1782) (Nematoda: Dioctophymatoidea). CanadianJournal of Zoology 53:1552–1568.McAllister CT and TJ Fayton. 2015. Bashkirovitremacanadense (Trematoda: Digenea: Echinostomatidae)from northern river otter, Lontra canadensis(Carnivora: Mustelidae), from southeasternOklahoma. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academyof Science 95:67–70.McAllister CT, CR Bursey, JA Crawford, ARKuhns, C Shaffer and SE Trauth. 2010.Metacercariae of Clinostomum (Trematoda:Digenea) from three species of Ambystoma(Caudata: Ambystomatidae) from Arkansas andIllinois, U.S.A. Comparative Parasitology 77:25–30.Melquist WE, PJ Polechla Jr and D Toweill. 2003.River otter: Lontra canadensis. In Feldhamer GA,Thompson BC and Chapman JA, editors. Wildmammals of North America: biology, management,and conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press(Baltimore). p 708–734.Reid FA. 2006. Mammals of North America. HoughtonMifflin Company (Boston). 579 p.Sealander JA and GA Heidt. 1990. Arkansasmammals: their natural history, classification, anddistribution. 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Gastrointestinal Parasites of the Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis (Carnivora: Mustelidae), from Arkansas

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