Abstract

Three species of birds belonging to the genus Corvus (Corvus monedula, Corvus splendens and Corvus macrorhynchos) were collected from nine different localities of Kashmir valley and investigated for the presence of helminthes. Dilepis undula (Schrank, 1788) was recovered from all the three host species. While, Mayhewia kavini Chishti and Khan, 1982 was recovered only from C. monedula and no specimen of this cestode was obtained from C. splendens and C. macrorhynchos during the present study. The specimens were identified and redescribed on the basis of various morphological and morphometric characters when compared to the known species of genera as Dilepis and Mayhewia, respectively. However, some intraspecific variations were observed when the present measurements were compared with those of previous authors. The prevalence, mean intensity and abundance of the parasites were determined.

Key words: Cestode, crows, Corvus, Dilepis, Mayhewia, prevalence, Kashmir.