Original Title: Parasite composition of a raccoon transported to Iceland
confirm its American origin

ABSTRACT

In 2018, a live raccoon was detected by a mink hunting dog in a burrow on the coast close to Keflavík International Airport in Iceland and subsequently shot. Dissection confirmed this non-native vagrant to be a subadult, immature female. Presence of some subcutan and kidney fat reserves suggested transportation to Iceland as a stowaway hiding in goods in an aeroplane - rather than having been locked up starving for weeks in a container on a freight ship. Raccoons are native in the Nearctic but were released in Europe in the last century. Parasitological examinations of the raccoon in Iceland revealed the presence of at least 13 parasite species. Five of them are common in American raccoon populations (Eimeria nuttally, Capillaria procyonis, C. putori, Molineus barbatus, Placoconus lotoris) but do not occur in European conspecifics. This confirms the American origin of the animal.

Keywords: Iceland · Nearctic origin · parasite fauna · Procyon lotor · raccoon · translocation

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