FESSISENTIS-NECTURORUM (ACANTHOCEPHALA, FESSISENTIDAE) FROM THE RED-SPOTTED NEWTS, NOTOPHTHALMUS-V-VIRIDESCENS, IN WEST-VIRGINIA

Fessisentis necturorum was found in 8 of 55 female and 25 of 69 male r ed-spotted newts, Notophthalmus v. viridescens, collected in Wayne Cou nty, West Virginia, throughout 1995. While mean intensities of 4.38 an d 2.84 were recorded for female and male hosts, respectively, those me ans came from F. necturorum populations that had the same distribution in each host sex as calculated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov 2-sample tes t. Sex ratios of F. necturorum were female-biased but did not depart s ignificantly from a 1:1 ratio. Ninety-five of the 107 F. necturorum in dividuals collected were found in the upper third of the small intesti ne.