Nematode Muscleworm from White-Tailed Deer of Southeastern British Columbia

Abstract

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in southeastern British Columbia are infected with a nematode parasite whose Ist-stage larva bears a dorsal spine (Bindernagel, unpubl. rep., Can. Wildl. Serv. Contract 7273-073, 1972). In the absence of meningeal worms, (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) in the crania of 49 white-tailed deer, Bindernagel suggested that the parasite was probably Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei. This nematode (P. odocoilei) has been reported from the skeletal muscle of black-tailed deer (0. hemionus columbianus), California mule deer (0. h. californicus) in California (Hobmaier and Hobmaier 1934, Brunetti 1969), and recently from mule deer (0. h. hemionus) in Alberta (Platt and Samuel 1978). Our study, however, reports the recovery of adult Parelaphostrongylus andersoni from a fawn infected with larvae from white-tailed deer in southeastern British Columbia.