Examination of 4 Ozark cavefish, Troglichthys rosae, collected opportunistically during February 2020 from Benton County, Arkansas, U.S.A., revealed the presence of an unknown myxozoan (Myxobolus sp.) in the gall bladder of 1 fish and encapsulated metacercariae of Clinostomum sp. (“yellow grub”) in 2 hosts. One Ozark cavefish harbored 4 metacercaria and the other a single metacercaria. This is the first report of any parasite from T. rosae, a federally threatened species. We also provide a summary of parasites reported from members of the cavefish and swampfish family, Amblyopsidae.

The ruddy ground dove, Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811), is reported herein as a new host for the diplotriaenid nematode Diplotriaena delirae Pinto & Noronha, 1970. The host was collected in the municipality of Januária, northern region of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A heavy infection wholly occupied the coelomic cavity and air sacs. The nematodes were also found in the pectoral subcutaneous tissue, an infection site hitherto unknown for these parasites. A total of 262 specimens of D. delirae was found, which surprisingly corresponded to 27% of the host carcass weight. The impacts of the heavy infection with D. delirae on overall host health and population regulation are briefly discussed.

Medical research has a long history of investigators who used themselves as experimental subjects in their efforts to solve infectious disease mysteries. These intrepid investigators voluntarily exposed themselves to infectious agents for reasons of expediency as well as ethics and watched themselves while disease developed. The risks of this research could be great. Claude H. Barlow, a missionary surgeon and parasitologist of the early 20th century, used this experimental technique on many occasions during a long career in helminthology. The author, a retired pediatric gastroenterologist and Dr. Barlow's granddaughter, presents a modern look at his research and results.

Seventy-one Northern Short-tailed Shrews (Blarina brevicauda) from 2 of the 3 northernmost Maine counties were skinned and examined for subcutaneous nematode cysts. Twenty-one of the shrews had 1 or more cysts present containing larval Porrocaecum encapsulatum. None of 12 examined for the presence of internal cysts were infected. One of 12 Cinereus Shrews (Sorex cinereus) examined was infected subcutaneously. This is the first report of this larval nematode species from Maine, and S. cinereus is a new host.

Twenty-four specimens of Pantherophis guttatus (Linnaeus) (corn snake) from North Carolina were examined for endoparasites. Fourteen species of helminths (2 cestodes, 10 nematodes, 2 acanthocephalans) and 1 pentastome are reported, representing 14 new host records and 1 new geographic distribution record. No trematodes were found, and the salvaged tapeworms were morphologically unidentifiable. Capillaria colubra, at 63%, was the most prevalent helminth, followed by Strongyloides serpentis and immature physalopterid larvae, each at 29%. Two uncommon finds for North Carolina snakes were the pentastome, Porocephalus crotali, and the trichostrongylid nematode, Oswaldocruzia sp.

Adult acanthocephalans of the genus Neoechinorhynchus are commonly found infecting a wide range of turtle definitive hosts throughout North America. Other than reports on basic information such as intensity and species, little information exists on abnormal occurrences of acanthocephalans from turtles. We present 4 unusual cases of turtle acanthocephalans interacting with the host and other turtle parasites. Red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) were surveyed for helminths in Oklahoma, U.S.A. during 2010–2022. We observed 1) an acanthocephalan tied in a knot inside the turtle intestine, 2) an acanthocephalan attached with its proboscis to the outer serosa layer of the turtle intestine, 3) acanthocephalans embedded in the tissue of adult trematodes in the turtle intestine, and 4) nematodes attached to the tissue of acanthocephalans in the turtle intestine. These reports highlight some rare, but interesting, observations on adult acanthocephalans in their turtle hosts.

The objective of this study was to conduct a survey of parasites infecting the fat mucket, Lampsilis siliquoidea, during July 2022 at Lemon's Mill along 50 m of North Elkhorn Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River in Scott County, Kentucky, U.S.A. Fifty-two specimens of L. siliquoidea were collected, and 3 different parasites were recovered. Sporocysts and rhopalocercous cercariae associated with Phyllodistomum sp. (prevalence = 13.5%) were recovered from the visceral mass and mantle cavity, respectively, nymphs and adults of the water mite Unionicola fossulata (prevalence = 96.2%; mean intensity = 3.92 ± 2.25) from the external surface of the gill demibranchs, and the aspidogastrid Cotylaspis insignis (prevalence = 84.6%; mean intensity = 8.50 ± 7.13) from the external surface at the gill-visceral mass junction. Prevalence and mean intensity were not significantly affected by host sex or host size. These results establish a baseline for parasite community structure in L. siliquoidea at the North Elkhorn Creek site.

Pseudomagnivitellinum ictalurum Dronen and Underwood, 1980 (Trematoda), was originally described from black bullheads (Ameiurus melas) from roadside ditches in the Brazos River watershed in Texas, U.S.A. New specimens of this species were collected from the type host from Little Pine Island Bayou east of the type locality in the Neches River watershed in Texas. The newly collected specimens confirm the species-level taxon as one similar to members of Magnivitellinum Kloss, 1966, but with an oral sucker larger than the ventral sucker, an ovary displaced posteriorly from the ventral sucker, and probably an I-shaped excretory vesicle. The distribution of body spines is most dense at the anterior end, diminishing toward the posterior, and these features argue for placing the taxon in the recently erected Alloglossidiidae rather than in the Macroderoididae, as it had previously been classified. In most other respects, the newly collected specimens conform to the features of the original species description, except that very large, fully gravid specimens were not collected, and the position of the ovary is now documented as variable.