Abstract
Despite the large diversity of the migratory and resident avifauna of the Arabian Peninsula, relatively few species have been sampled for chewing lice. In this study, three breeding species of Suliformes, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis Ogilvie-Grant & Forbes, Sula dactylatra Lesson and Sula leucogaster (Boddaert) were examined for chewing lice. Four species of chewing lice were identified, two from the suborder Amblycera (Eidmanniella albescens (Piaget, 1880) and Eidmanniella nancyae Ryan & Price, 1969) and two from the suborder Ischnocera (Pectinopygus socotranus Timmermann, 1964 and Pectinopygus sulae (Rudow, 1869)). Diagnostic characters, examined and other known hosts, an identification key, and images of hosts and chewing lice are provided.
Highlights
The chewing lice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have recently received attention after a decade of neglect (El-Ahmed et al 2012; Al-Ahmed et al 2014; Nasser et al 2015), but these efforts should be viewed as preliminary, considering the notable diversity of these ectoparasitic insects of the region
The objective of this paper is to review the known information of these two genera in this region, and to provide a taxonomic review of the lice collected from Suliformes in the Arabian Peninsula
A sick adult Brown booby was caught by hand at Jazan Tourism Marina, KSA (16°54'7"N 42°32'28"E); juvenile Masked boobies were captured on nests on Al-Hallaniyah Island, Oman (17°29'59"N 56°4'51"E); and an adult Socotra cormorant was captured near Karan Island, KSA (27°43'5"N 49°49'31"E) using a mist net deployed over a partially sunk boat near the coast of the island, on which the birds had several times been observed resting (Fig. 1)
Summary
The chewing lice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have recently received attention after a decade of neglect (El-Ahmed et al 2012; Al-Ahmed et al 2014; Nasser et al 2015), but these efforts should be viewed as preliminary, considering the notable diversity of these ectoparasitic insects of the region. With more than 4 000 species worldwide, the chewing lice form one of the most diverse orders of parasitic Hexapoda (Price et al 2003). Most of these species infest birds, but taxa are known from mammals (Price et al 2003). Throughout the Arabian Peninsula, there are three breeding species of this order: the Brown booby, Sula leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783); the Masked booby, Sula dactylatra (Lesson, 1831) (Sulidae); and the Socotra cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis Ogilvie-Grant & Forbes 1899, (Phalacrocoracidae) (Porter & Aspinall 2013)
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