Cestodiasis in scaly-bellied woodpeckers(Picus squamatus) of Kashmir

A fortuitous investigation of two scaly-bellied woodpeckers (Picus squamatus) died due to fatal traumatic injury in separate incidences in Kashmir led to the spontaneous finding of heavy cestode infection. The cestodes were identified as Choanotaenia infundibulum and Raillietina cesticillus. The pathology associated with both parasites were not severe. The scolices were found to embed superficially in the intestinal mocous with mild cellular infiltration in the submucosa. The presence of abundant ants, ant-eggs and larvae in the intestinal content of both birds suggest them as a primary diet of the birds, and also to speculate their potential as intermediate host for the parasite’s dissemination. This probably is the new host record for the Cestodes- R. cesticillus and C. infundibulum, which could suggest a very wide host range for the parasites probably mediated by some common intermediate hosts.