GASTROINTESTINAL PARASITES OF THE SWALLOW-TAILED KITE (ELANOIDES FORFICATUS), INCLUDING A REPORT OF LESIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NEMATODE DISPHARYNX SP.

Endoparasites of raptors are rarely documented to cause pathogenecity. We examined 60 live and 5 salvaged Swallow-tailed Kites (Elanoides forficatus) for gastrointestinal parasites. Methods included screening excreta collected from nestling and adult kites and their nests and dissecting the alimentary canals of salvaged nestlings. Kites hosted the following helminths (nematodes: Dispharynx sp., Procyrnea sp., and an immature ascarid; trematodes: Order Strigeatida; cestodes: Taenia vexata; acanthocephalan: Centrorhynchus spinosus), and two taxa of protozoans (Phylum Sporozoa: unidentified coccidia; and Phylum Metamonada: Giardia sp.). Two of 43 nestlings we examined during banding hosted larval Protocalliphora sp. (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Helminth prevalence was 27.7%, with trematodes and nematodes being most prevalent, 13.8% and 10.8% respectively (n = 65). The prevalence of Dispharynx sp. in first-year kites was 11.5% (n = 52). Dispharynx sp. caused stomach lesions in two first-year kites.