ECTOPARASITES OF OPOSSUMS AND RACCOONS IN SOUTHEASTERN GEORGIA

Twelve species of ectoparasites (four fleas, three ticks, three chigge rs, one macronyssid mite, and one atopomelid mite) were recovered from 42 opossums, Didelphis virginiana Kerr, live-trapped from September 1 992 through April 1994 in southeastern Georgia. The fleas, Ctenocephal ides felis (Bouche) (prevalence = 19%) and Polygenis gwyni (C. Fox) (3 6%); the ticks, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (40%) and Ixodes scapular is Say (19%); and the macronyssid mite, Ornithonyssus wernecki (Fonsec a) (21%), exhibited the highest infestation prevalences on opossums. T he atopomelid mite, Didelphilichus serrifer Fain, and the chigger mite Leptotrombidium peromysci Vercammen-Grandjean & Langston, both ectopa rasites of opossums, are reported from Gerogia for the first time. Six species of ectoparasites (one chewing louse, four ticks, and one macr onyssid mite) were collected from 58 raccoons, Procyon lotor (L.), exa mined between October 1992 and September 1993 in the same region. The chewing louse, Trichodectes octomaculatus Paine (prevalence = 24%); an d the ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.) (69%), D. variabilis (55%), and Ixodes texanus Banks (24%), exhibited the highest infestation prevale nces on raccoons. Three species of ticks, A. americanum, D. variabilis , and I. scapularis, were the only ectoparasites recovered from both h ost species. Several of the ectoparasites collected are proven vectors of pathogenic agents that affect humans and animals.