A Survey of Gopherus polyphemus Intestinal Parasites in South Florida

Table 2

Qualitative intestinal parasite loads approximated via egg counts in adult and subadult gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) fecal samples from six populations in South Florida.

Site		No. positive (%)
		Tachygonetria			Chapiniella			Augusticaecum	Telorchis	Eimeria	Cryptosporidium	Amoebas
		L	M	H	L	M	H	L	L	L	L	L
BSP	22	9(41)	4(18)	2(9)	6(27)	0	0	1(5)	6(27)a	5(23)ac	0	0
FAU	18	4(22)	8(44)	2(11)	10(56)	1(6)	1(6)	0	0b	1(6)abc	0	1
PJP	17	5(29)	6(35)	2(12)	7(41)	2(12)	0	1(6)	1(6)ab	4(24)c	1(6)	0
JSPSS	21	11(52)	5(24)	1(5)	11(52)	1(5)	0	0	1(5)b	0b	0	0
JDSPP	14	4(30)	5(36)	4(30)	2(14)	1(7)	0	1(7)	0b	0b	0	0
MD	20	4(20)	9(45)	4(20)	8(40)	2(10)	0	1(5)	0b	0b	0	0
Total	112	37(33)	37(33)	15(13)	44(39)	7(6)	1(1)	4(4)	8(7)	10(9)	1(1)	1(1)

The letters L, M, and H represent the qualitative load values derived from approximated egg counts ((<1-1/LPF), (2-4/LPF), and (>=5/LPF)) provided by National Bio Vet Laboratories. Different letters indicate significant differences in the loads between individual sites.