PARASITES OF THE ARCTIC FOX (ALOPEX-LAGOPUS) IN ICELAND

Forty-four of 50 arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) in Iceland harbored 15 species of intestinal parasites, including Protozoa: Eimeria sp. or Is ospora sp. (in 4%); Trematoda: Cryptocotyle lingua (24%), Plagiorchis elegans (4%), Brachylaemus sp. (12%), Tristriata sp. (10%), and Spelot rema sp. (8%); Cestoda: Mesocestoides canislagopodis (72%), Schistocep halus solidus (2%), and Diphyllobothrium dendriticum (4%); Nematoda: T oxascaris leonina (50%), Toxocara canis (2%), Uncinaria stenocephala ( 4%), and eggs of the lung worm Capillaria aerophila (6%); and Acanthoc ephala: Polymorphus meyeri (8%) and Corynosoma hadweni (2%). Only four of the species previously had been recorded in Iceland. Eleven specie s are new records in Iceland and six appear to be new host records. Tw o additional nematodes, Stegophorus stercorarii and Syphacia sp., prob ably were ingested accidentally with the prey. Foxes from coastal habi tats harbored 14 parasitic species while only five species were found in foxes from inland habitats. Arctic foxes from coastal habitats gene rally had higher helminth burdens and harbored more parasitic species per fox than foxes from inland habitats.