AUTHOR=Walden Heather D. S. , Iredale Marley E. , Childress April , Wellehan James F. X. , Ossiboff Robert J. 

TITLE=Case Report: Invasive Pentastomes, Raillietiella orientalis (Sambon, 1922), in a Free-Ranging Banded Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata) in North Central Florida, USA

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00467

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2020.00467

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Raillietiella orientalis</italic> is an obligate, crustacean parasite that resides in the respiratory tract of definitive snake hosts. Common throughout southeastern Asia and Australia, <italic>R. orientalis</italic> is believed to have been introduced into southern Florida, United States along with Burmese pythons (<italic>Python bivittatus</italic>) in the 1990s. While the invasive range of Burmese pythons is restricted to southern Florida, <italic>R. orientalis</italic> has advanced north in the state in native snake species. <italic>R. orientalis</italic> were recovered from the lungs, trachea, oral cavity, and esophagus of an emaciated adult female free-ranging banded water snake (<italic>Nerodia fasciata</italic>) in north central (Alachua County), Florida, USA. Concurrent findings included the recovery of <italic>Ochetosoma</italic> sp. trematodes from the oral cavity, and multifocal dermal lesions consistent with snake fungal disease (<italic>Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola</italic>). This is the first report of <italic>R. orientalis</italic> in north central Florida, well outside the invasive range of the Burmese python, documenting the substantial northward expansion of the known geographical range of this invasive pentastome in Florida.</p>