Parasites of marsupials in Trinidad, B.W.I.

There are on the island of Trinidad four species of marsupials. This thesis deals with the parasites of two of them, Philander trinitatis (Thomas) and Didelphis marsupialis. The latter has two sub-species on the island, D.m. insularis (Allen) and D.m. karkinophaga (Zimmerman), the former being the predominant form. The latter is known throughout all of Central and South America as the crab-eating opossum. Both the species of Didelphis are known on the island by the inhabitants as the "Manicou". The Philander is known simply as "Philander". Two species of marsupials not included as hosts in this collection belong to the genus Marmosa, M. chapmani (Allen), and M. carri (Allen and Chapman). Insofar as could be determined from the literature available, only D.m. karkinophaga has been examined for helminths to any extent up to this time, as no parasite records for any of the other species were found. The majority of the work on the mainland has been done with a related sub-species D.m. aurita which occurs in Brazil. In the north the Virginia opossum (P.m. virginiana) has received much attention. It is easily captured and present in large numbers. Being a lone species, it is thoroughly investigated. The genus Philander contains related species on the mainland; among them are Philander philander, Philander laniger laniger and Philander laniger pallidus. The latter form is present in some numbers in Panama.[...