A survey of the intestinal helminths of waterfowl from New Brunswick, Canada

Abstract

Between August 1967 and December 1969, 148 local and migrant waterfowl (13 species) collected in New Brunswick, Canada, were examined for intestinal helminths. Forty-six helminth species (28 Cestoda of which 6 remain unidentified to species; 13 Digenea; 4 Acanthocephala; and 1 Nematoda) were found, of which 34 occurred in local young during the summer and most were also found in migrant ducks during the fall. Eleven species were found in migrant hosts only, these being species which do not normally breed in the province. Thirty-one of the 35 helminth species found locally occurred in Anas rubripes, the most abundant local host, and this host presumably played the greatest role in the local circulation of these helminth species.