ABSTRACT
Acknowledgments ........................................................... 597
References ........................................................................ 597
Free-ranging reptiles are infected and infested with a great diversity of endo-and ectoparasites. Considering the number of papers published, relatively few reports link parasite burdens with morbidity or mortality events in wild reptiles. Historically, the scientists interested in reptilian parasites have been taxonomists, and have not been interested in or trained to appreciate the host’s response to the parasite. In most cases the reptilian host-parasite relationship is yet to be documented. Still, lesions have been seen with certain parasitic infections. Plasmodium infections are thought to affect behavior and physiology of certain populations of lizards (Schall, 1996); the coccidian Caryospora was responsible for mortality in captive (Leibovitz et al., 1978) and wild (Gordon et al., 1993) marine turtles, and spirorchiid trematodes and their eggs caused severe lesions in multiple visceral sites in marine turtles (Gordon et al., 1998). I have also evaluated wild reptiles found ill in the field having amoebiasis, cryptosporidiosis, and various helminth infections. Individual reptiles that become ill and die in the field are seldom encountered unless there is a major mortality event. In contrast, there are many more reports on parasitic diseases of captive reptiles, especially those that were collected in the wild. Whereas some parasites, such as the protistan Entamoeba invadens, are transmitted without an intermediate host (i.e., directly from animal to animal), many other reptilian parasites require such a host for completion of their life cycles. In most captive populations, infection with parasites requiring intermediate hosts is self-limiting. The life cycles of many reptilian parasites remain to be elucidated.
