External and gastrointestinal parasites of the Franklin’s Gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan (Charadriiformes: Laridae), in Talcahuano, central Chile

Daniel González-Acuña,Carlos Barrientos,Pablo Oyarzún-Ruiz,Cristian Missene,John Mike Kinsella,Danny Fuentes-Castillo,Sergei Mironov,Armando Cicchino,Lucila Moreno,Joseline Veloso-Frías

doi:10.1590/s1984-29612020091

Abstract

Parasitological studies of the Franklin's gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan, are scarce, and knowledge about its endoparasites is quite limited. In order to describe its parasitic community, a total of 60 Franklin's gulls were captured in the coastal area in central Chile, using modified Bal-chatri traps. Ectoparasites were collected from all 60 live individuals through inspection of their plumage, while 30 were examined for endoparasites by standard parasitological necropsy. The prevalence of ectoparasites was 78.3%, including the feather mite Zachvatkinia larica (43.3%) and four species of lice: Actornithophilus piceus lari (15.0%), Austromenopon transversum (6.7%), Quadraceps punctatus (10.0%) and Saemundssonia lari (46.7%). Some 25 of 30 (83.3%) of birds necropsied were parasitized with the following helminths: Aporchis sp. (6.7%), Tetrabothrius cylindraceus (56.7%), Cyclophyllidea gen. sp. (3.3%), Profilicollis altmani (56.7%), Eucoleus contortus (10.0%), Cosmocephalus obvelatus (13.3%), Paracuaria adunca (10.0%), Stegophorus sp. (3.3%) and Tetrameres skrjabini (3.3%). To our knowledge, with the exception of P. altmani, these helminths are reported for first time in the Franklin's gull.

Highlights

The Franklin’s gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan (Wagler, 1831), is a migratory bird that travels every year from breeding sites in the United States and Southern Canada (Harrison, 1983) to Central and South America; most individuals stay in the southern hemisphere during the austral summer (Marin & Couve, 2001)
Lice were recorded on 53.3% (32/60) of gulls, corresponding to four species (Figure 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d): Actornithophilus piceus lari (Amblycera: Menoponidae) was collected from the wings of 15% (9/60) of the individuals, with a total of 17 specimens (Table 1)
The present study provides a new report of this parasite-host association in central coasts of Chile, where L. pipixcan has been shown to be a better host that increases the abundance of P. altmani when it arrives to this area (Riquelme et al, 2006)

Summary

Introduction

The Franklin’s gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan (Wagler, 1831), is a migratory bird that travels every year from breeding sites in the United States and Southern Canada (Harrison, 1983) to Central and South America; most individuals stay in the southern hemisphere during the austral summer (Marin & Couve, 2001). Most studies of parasitic fauna in the Franklin’s gull concern ectoparasites. There are records of the acanthocephalan Profilicollis altmani (Perry, 1942) Van Cleave, 1947 (= P. bullocki), isolated from this host in South America (Peru and Chile) (Tantaleán et al, 2005; Riquelme et al, 2006; Rodríguez et al, 2017), and the filarioid nematode Eulimdana sp. This study aims to provide new records of diversity and prevalence of parasites associated with the Franklin’s gull

Objectives

Methods

Results