National Collection of Helminthology

The first list of the Collection was published in 1961 with the impulse of Dr. Rodrigo Brenes Madrigal, with 150 species. This catalog was improved thanks to the efforts of Dr. Beatriz Rodríguez-Ortíz with the collaboration of researchers from the Autonomous University of Mexico in 2001, publishing a new list of species in 2004.

 

The current number of known helminth species for Costa Rica is 325 with 89 species of digeneans, 23 monogeneans, 63 cestodes, 13 acanthocephalans, and 137 nematodes. In total, parasites have been described in 133 vertebrates species in Costa Rica (31 in fish, 7 in amphibians, 18 in reptiles, 40 in birds, and 37 in mammals) and many of the species are endemic to some regions of the country. The Collection of Helminthology of Costa Rica preserves, of these species, 164: 125 Digenean, 7 Monogeneans, 1 of Cestoidea, and 31 of Nematoda. The collection is stored in the Laboratory of Helminthology, at the Faculty of Microbiology of the University of Costa Rica, and is available to be consulted as reference material for scientific research related to helminths at a local and international level.