HEAVY MIXED INFECTION OF OPHIOTAENIA SP. AND OPHIDASCARIS SP. IN A CAPTIVE RETICULATED PYTHON (PYTHON RETICULATUS)

VIMALRAJ P.G*, LATCHUMIKANTHAN A1 , ABDULSALAM D 2 *Dr. VIMALRAJ PADAYATCHIAR GOVINDAN

1. Dr. LATCHUMIKANTHAN ANNAMALAI – PhD Scholar,Division of Veterinary Parasitology, IVRI, India. Email: latchupara2010@gmail.com 2. Dr. ABDULSALAM DASTHAGEER – Post Graduate Scholar, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, Puducherry, India. Email: babu.salam11@gmail.com

Corresponding Author and Wildlife Veterinarian,Puducherry, India. Email: vemalrajpg@gmail.com

Abstract :

Young captive reticulated python (Python reticulatus) died with a history of anorexia and frequent regurgitation. On post mortem examination, about 50-60 round worms with varying sizes and less than a kilo tapeworms were collected from the gut and esophageal region. Based on the external morphological characters and its comparison with available literature data the parasites were identified as Ophidascaris sp. and Ophiotaenia sp. These endoparasites parasitizing pythons were briefly discussed. Key Words: Ophiotaenia sp., Ophidascaris sp. and Captive Reticulated Python.