Abstract
The present study was carried out to determine additional chewing lice of aquatic birds and additional data on the prevalence of chewing lice in aquatic birds found on the Southern marshes of Iraq. Sixty-nine of different species of aquatic birds were randomly collected and examined for chewing lice in Al-Sanaf marsh, which is located in Thi-Qar province / Southern Iraq, between October 2016 and February 2017, the lice placed in tubes containing 70% ethanol after that they cleared, mounted and identified according to morphological features. Twenty-five (36.23%) out of 69 aquatic birds were infested with chewing lice, a total of six lice species were identified from birds in the current study included Piagetiella titan and Pectinopygus forficulatus infested White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus, Actornithophilus piceus lari infested Slender-billed Gull Larus geni, Actornithophilus himantopi infested Black-Winged stilt Himantopus himantopus, Rallicola fulicae isolated from coot Fulica atra and Rallicola parani infested moorhen Gallinula chloropus. Three lice species: Pectinopygus forficulatus, Rallicola fulicae and Rallicola parani were recorded in current study for the first time in Iraq. We need further investigations of Phthiraptera fauna are very important, not only to complete the list, but also to provide information about parasite-host vector relationships and phylogenetic relation among species.
Highlights
Chewing lice are small wingless insects, that are found as ectoparasites on birds and mammals, they are characterized by their chewing mouth parts [1], and they are permanent obligate ectoparasites feed on feathers and skin scales and cause skin irritation and suck blood, causing decrease in productivity of the host [2], as they deteriorate the quality of the plumage, provoke small holes on feathers, and increase feather breakage [3]
The chewing lice fauna of aquatic birds is almost unknown in Al-Sanaf marsh which located in the western north part of Al-Hammar marsh eastern south of Thi-Qar province /southern Iraq its area is nearly 250 Km2, it is used by many aquatic birds such as fish eating-birds, some new records for the aquatic bird louse fauna have been recorded in recent years [8,9,10]
A total of 69 aquatic birds belonging to five bird species white pelican P. onocrotalus, slender-billed gull L. genei, black-winged stilt H. himantopus, coot F. atra and moorhen G. chloropus were randomly collected from Al-Sanaf marsh southern Thi-Qar province were examined for the chewing lice infestation
Summary
Chewing lice are small wingless insects, that are found as ectoparasites on birds and mammals, they are characterized by their chewing mouth parts [1], and they are permanent obligate ectoparasites feed on feathers and skin scales and cause skin irritation and suck blood, causing decrease in productivity of the host [2], as they deteriorate the quality of the plumage, provoke small holes on feathers, and increase feather breakage [3]. A total of 69 aquatic birds belonging to five bird species white pelican P. onocrotalus, slender-billed gull L. genei, black-winged stilt H. himantopus, coot F. atra and moorhen G. chloropus were randomly collected from Al-Sanaf marsh southern Thi-Qar province were examined for the chewing lice infestation. Six different chewing lice species were identified from five aquatic birds: P. titan and P. forficulatus on white pelican P. onocrotalus, A. piceus lari on slender-billed gull L. geni, A. himantopi on black-winged stilt H. himantopus, R. fulicae on coot F. atra and R. parani infested moorhen G. chloropus. This lice species was isolated from white pelican P. onocrotalus with prevalence 100% and mean of intensity 53.50 (Figure 2). This lice species was isolated from slender-billed gull L. genei with prevalence 13.33% and mean of intensity 2.00 (Figure 3). This lice species was isolated from black-winged stilt H. himantopus with prevalence 6.66% and mean of intensity 1.00 (Figure 4)
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