PARASITES OF DESMOGNATHUS-BRIMLEYORUM (CAUDATA, PLETHODONTIDAE) FROM THE OUACHITA MOUNTAINS OF ARKANSAS AND OKLAHOMA

Forty-one juvenile and adult Ouachita dusky salamanders, Desmognathus brimleyorum, were collected from Arkansas and Oklahoma and examined fo r parasites. Thirty-two (78%) were infected with 1 or more parasites, including 25 (61%) with Chloromyxum salamandrae, 1 (2%) with Brachycoe lium salamandrae, 2 (5%) with Cylindrotaenia americana, 8 (20%) with M esocestoides sp. tetrathyridia, 9 (22%) with Batracholandros magnavulv aris, 3 (7%) with Desmognathinema nantahalaensis, 4 (10%) with Hedruis pendula, 6 (15%) with Omeia papillocauda, 1 (2%) with unidentified As caridoidea larvae, 1 (2%) with an acanthocephalan cystacanth, and 28 ( 68%) with larval Hannemania sp. In addition, 10 (24%) salamanders harb ored an intraerythrocytic inclusion, thought to represent a rickettsia or virus of undetermined taxonomic status. Several new host and distr ibutional records are documented for parasites of D. brimleyorum, incl uding the first report of Mesocestoides sp. in a caudate amphibian wor ldwide.