Survey for meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) and ear mites in white-tailed deer from northern Idaho

Abstract

During the fall hunting season of 1990, 95 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) heads were collected from hunters in Boundary and Bonner Counties in northern Idaho (USA), an area currently occupied by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). The heads were examined for adult and larval meningeal worms (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) by physical examination of the brain surfaces, and the Baermann technique, respectively, and for ear mites by examination of ear scrapings. Meningeal worms or mites were not detected.