During a 4-year-period, more than 500 ostriches and several rheas, all born in European
countries and raised in Spain and Portugal, have been analyzed for the presence of
ectoparasites and endoparasites. A total of 29 parasite species have been found, most
of them of the gastrointestinal tract. Some of the helminth species found may represent
spureous parasitosis, as only the eggs (of an ascarid and a trematode) were found
in some samples. From the organisms identified, the ectoparasites (lice-Struthiolipeurus
rheae, S. nandu; mites-Dermoglyphus pachycnemis, Gabucinia bicaudata), helminths (cestoda-Houttuynia
struthionis- and nematoda-Libyostrongylus sp., Codiostomum struthionis-) and the ciliate
Balantidium struthionis are known as ratite specific parasites. Capillaria eggs and
larvae were also found; there are no previous records of this parasite from ostriches,
and the data available do not allow to do a temptative specific diagnosis. Among protozoa,
most of the species now found are described for the first time in ratites. They include
organisms also found in other birds (Trichomonas gallinae, Tetratrichomonas gallinarum,
Chilomastix gallinarum, Spironucleus meleagridis and Pleuromonas jaculans), and organisms
whose specific status cannot be established until further analysis are performed (Cryptosporidium
sp., Eimeria sp. and/or Isospora sp., Entamoeba sp. of the one-nucleate and of the
eight-nucleate mature cyst groups, Endolimax sp., Iodamoeba sp., Monocercomonas sp.,
Retortamonas sp., Giardia sp., Blastocystis sp. and euglenids).