Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 23. (Budapest, 1990)

Parasit, hung. 23. 1990 Studies on Acanthocephala from aquatic birds in Hungary Dr. Zlatka M. DIMITROV A

1

, Dr. Éva MURAI

2 and Dr. Todor GENOV

3 Department of Zoology, Higher Institute of Zootechnics and Veterinary Medicine, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria' — Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary

2 — Institute of Parasitology, Bulgarian Academy of Science*. Sofia, Bulgaria

3 "Studies on Acanthocephala from aquatic birds in Hungary" - Dimitrova, Z. M., Murai, É. and Genov, T. - Parasit, hung., 23: 39-64. 1990. ABSTRACT. A total of 7 aquatic bird species of four orders were found as hosts of acanthocephalans: 5 species of the family Polymorphidae and one of the family Centrorhynchidae were established. Morphological descriptions are presented, illustrating their variability. Polymorphic diploinflatus, P. magnus, P. cf.phippsi and Southwellina hispida are reported first for the Hungarian fauna. KEY WORDS: Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae, Centrorhynchidae, morphology, taxonomy, intraspecific variability, aquatic birds, Hungary. When reviewing the endoparasites of birds in the regions of Hortobágy and Biharugra, EDELÉNYI (1964) described two acanthocephalan species from aquatic birds: Polymorphic striatus (Goeze, 1782) in anseriform and cico-niiform hosts, and Filicollis anatis (Schrank, 1788) in anseriform and gruiform birds. MURAI et al. (1983, 1985) recorded in Hortobágy National Park and Kiskunság National Park the following acanthocephalan parasites from aquatic birds: Polymorphic minutie (Goeze, 1872), Filicollis anatis (Schrank, 1788), Centrorhynchus aluconis (Mueller, 1780) and C. lancea (Westrumb, 1821). The aim of the present paper is to present new data on the species compo-sition, morphology and distribution of acanthocephalans from aquatic birds in Hungary. It is based on new specimens from anseriform, gruiform, ciconiiform and charadriiform hosts collected in different parts of the country and also on an already published material (MURAI et al. 1983) from Hortobágy National Park, used for further morphological investigations. MATERIAL AND METHODS Acanthocephalans were found in 7 bird species (Table 1). The specimens were fixed in 70 % alcohol. They were cleared in glycerol (25-100 %) or lactic acid and studied on temporary slides. When the metasomes of a part of the specimens were not sufficiently cleared they were heated in lactic acid until achieving satisfactory results (KHOKHLOVA 1965).