today's Featured List/May 19, 2014
A variety of parasites have been recorded from the marsh rice rat, a semiaquatic rodent found in the eastern and southern United States.
Some of these parasites are endoparasites, internal parasites, while others are ectoparasites, external parasites. In a 1988 study, parasitologist John Kinsella found a total of 45 endoparasites in marsh rice rats, a number unequaled in rodents. This may be related to the diverse habitats the rice rat uses and to its omnivorous diet; it eats a variety of animals which may serve as intermediate hosts of various parasites. While the marsh rice rat harbors a number of host-specific species, such as the nematode Aonchotheca forresteri, other parasite species, such as the lone star tick (pictured), are shared with other mammals. Four tapeworms are known from the marsh rice rat. Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, has been identified in some ticks that infect the marsh rice rat and it has been identified as a possible natural reservoir for Borrelia. (Full list...)
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