1.780.955.1995
Sheep Liver Fluke, Fasciola hepatica L., 1758 from Buffalo, Bison bison (L., 1758) in Western Wyoming
Sheep Liver Fluke, Fasciola hepatica L., 1758 from Buffalo, Bison bison (L., 1758) in Western Wyoming
Robert C. Bergstrom,
Division of Veterinary Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming
Reprinted from the Journal of Parasitology, vol 53, no. 4
In December 1966 Dr. J. D. Anderson, a veterinarian practicing in found abscesses and flukes in the liver of a buffalo which had been pastured on a ranch near the upper or southern limit of Star Valley {Lincoln County), Wyoming. Dr. Anderson sent portions of the liver from the buffalo to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory at Laramie. Dr. John Weibel of the above Laboratory examined the liver tissue and found many large abscesses. The writer further sectioned the material and recovered two adult flukes from a partially abscessed bile duct. The flukes were in rather poor condition but the anterior cone and ventral sucker were intact and typical of Fasciola hepatica.
Mrs. MayBelle Chitwood, Principal Research Parasitologist of the Beltsville Parasitologi Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland confirmed the identification (letter 1 February 1967), had them catalogued (USNM Helm. Coll. No.65933), and noted that the species had been reported from Bison in Montana (Betty Locker, 19,53, J. Parasit. 39: 58) but not from Bison on the National Wildlife Range in Wyoming at that time. We have no previous record of this trematode from Bison in Wyoming. However, sheep and cattle from Star Valley have been infected in past years.
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