A Study of Helminth Parasites in the Gastrointestinal Tract of the Swamp Buffalo, Bubalis Bubalis Lydekker, in the Northern Territory.

Abstract

Sixty buffalo and 12 cattle (all feral animals less than 2 years old) were slaughtered on Marrakai Station in the Northern Territory and their gastrointestinal worms were identified and counted. The abomasal nematode Skrjabinagia bovei was recorded in Australia for the first time, at similar frequency in the two hosts. The nematodes Haemonchus placei, Strongyloides papillosus, Cooperia spp. and Oesophagostomum radiatum, the stomach fluke Calicophoron calicophorum, and the tapeworm Moniezia benedini were all found in both hosts. The hosts were grouped by age and type of grazing area, and the intensities of infection with the various nematode species were related to these factors. Severe inflammation of the buffalo small intestine over the sites normally occupied by parasitic nematodes was frequent, and O. radiatum nodules were more frequent in the caecum and colon of buffalo than of cattle.