HELMINTH INFRACOMMUNITIES IN LITORIA-GENIMACULATA (AMPHIBIA, ANURA) FROM BIRTHDAY CREEK, AN UPLAND RAIN-FOREST STREAM IN NORTHERN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

The helminth fauna of Litoria genimaculata, a rainforest from from nor thern Queensland, was quantified from 53 adult male frogs collected at monthly intervals between April 1990 and March 1991. The helminth fau na of this species was depauperate (6 species: Mescocoelium sp., Parap olystoma bulliense, Austraplectana sp., Onchocercidae gen. sp., Cosmoc erca sp. and an unidentified nematode larva). The most commonly encoun tered species was P. bulliense, but the intestinal infracommunity was dominated by the digenean Mesocoelium sp. Fifty-five per cent of frogs were infected with only 1 helminth species and only 1 frog had more t han 2 species, resulting in low diversity values. These results suppor t previous studies which indicate that amphibians have depauperate hel minth communities. Copyright (C) 1996 Australian Society for Parasitol ogy. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.