Catalogue of Australian mammals and their recorded internal parasites. I-IV. Part I. Monotremes and marsupials. Part II. Eutheria. Part III. Introduced Herbivora and the domestic pig. Part IV. Man

101 CATALOGUE OF AUSTRALIAN MAMMALS AND THEIR RECORDED INTERNAL PARASITES. I-IV. Part I. Monotremes and Marsupials (pp. 101-125). Part II. Eutheria (pp. 126-143). Part III. Introduced Herbivora and the Domestic Pig (pp. 143-153). Part IV. Man (pp. 153-160). By M. Josephine Mackerras, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane. (Communicated by Dr. I. M. Mackerras.) [Read 30th July, 1958.] PART I. MONOTREMES AND MARSUPIALS. Synopsis. Part I contains the names of three monotremes and 158 marsupials. Parasites have been recorded from all the monotremes and from 72 marsupials. They have been found in representatives of all the families except the Notoryctidae, which have probably not been examined. Blood protozoa are known from two monotremes (Trypanosoma and Theileria) and from six marsupials (Trypanosoma, Theileria, and Haemogregarina (sens. lat.)). Two trematodes are known from the platypus and five from polyprotodont marsupials. No trematodes have been recorded from diprotodonts except, occasionally, Fasciola hepatica (an introduced parasite). Two adult ces.-odes are known from echidnas, five from polyprotodonts, and twenty-one from diprotodonts. The majority of the cestodes belong to the Anoplocephalidae. Hydatids (introduced with domestic animals) occur in wallabies and kangaroos. Nematodes are known from an echidna and from 55 marsupials. Of about 156 described species nearly 80% belong to the Strcngyloidea. No unequivocal record of-an adult member of the Ascaridoidea has been made. One species of Acanthocephala occurs in bandicoots. It is desirable at times to take stock of the present position and to summarize what is known of any particular subject. In this way the limitations of our knowledge become clearer and new lines of attack may appear. Many years ago the late Professor T. Harvey Johnston began to list the parasites of Australian animals. His 1916 census embraced all vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Today, largely as a result of his own and his colleagues' efforts, such a comprehensive list would require many more than the 34 pages of print it occupied in 1916. In the following four parts an attempt has been made to bring part of the information up to date in readily accessible form, by recording the protozoan, helminth, and pentastomid parasites known to occur in mammals in Australia. It is hoped that these lists will provide a useful stepping-off point for young parasitologists. It is hoped, too, that the publication of the names of very numerous species, from which no parasites seem to have been recorded, may draw attention to the large gaps in our knowledge and stimulate workers in other fields of animal study to preserve all parasites which they may find, and also to submit blood films and unwanted carcasses to parasitologists, whenever it may be feasible to do so. Many strange and unique forms have already been found in our indigenous fauna, but undoubtedly many more await discovery. The classification and synonymy given by Iredale and Troughton (1934)* and by Troughton (1954)$ have been used as a basis for Parts I and II, but some alterations * A Check-list of the Mammals Recorded from Australia, by Tom Iredale and E. Le G. Troughton, Australian Museum Memoir VI. Sydney, 1934. t Furred Animals of Australia, by Ellis Troughton. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 5th ed., 1954, 376 pp. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 195S, Vol. lxxxiii, Part 2. B