We report 4800+ late-Holocene, non-passerine avian fossils from Trouing Jean Paul, a high-elevation limestone sinkhole in the Morne La Visite region, Massif de la Selle, Haiti. The fossils represent prey remains of two extant owls, the widespread Tyto alba and the Hispaniolan endemic T. glaucops. Among 23 species of birds, only one is extinct (an undescribed woodcock, Scolopax new sp.). Two other species (the petrel Pterodroma hasitata, and the Hispaniolan endemic pauraque Siphonorhis brewsteri) are rare today, the latter now found mainly in dry forest at lower elevations. Two other species (the doves Zenaida aurita and Columbina passerina) are widespread and common today on Hispaniola (and elsewhere) but no longer occur at high elevations. The age of the bone deposit at Trouing Jean Paul (c. 1600–600 cal. BP) is based on six radiocarbon dates from individual bones of the extinct woodcock. The only other extinct Hispaniolan vertebrate with multiple direct radiocarbon dates is the sloth Neocnus comes, with the youngest of seven dates (from five sites) being c. 5000 cal. BP. The fossil assemblage at Trouing Jean Paul does not include the extinct species found in older Holocene sites, such as Neocnus comes and associated species (three other sloths, two monkeys, four rodents, a caracara, flightless rail, and giant barn-owl). Rather, the Trouing Jean Paul fossils portray a late-Holocene bird community that already had experienced four or more millennia of Amerindian presence, but had not yet been influenced by the activities of European or African peoples over the past 500 years. Although only c. 1000 years old, the Trouing Jean Paul bird community has species associations without a modern analog, even if the extinct woodcock is excluded.
Compared with Europe and the Americas, the ectoparasites of African birds are poorly understood, despite the avian fauna being relatively well known. Notably, previous studies documenting the host associations and genetic diversity of parasitic chewing lice of southern African birds have been limited in geographic and taxonomic scope. Recent field expeditions exploring the avian diversity in South Africa facilitated an opportunity to obtain louse specimens from a taxonomically diverse host assemblage. This study is the first to investigate avian louse host associations and diversity across a large portion of South Africa encompassing several distinct habitat types, while incorporating molecular genetic data (from portions of the mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1 genes) for ectoparasite phylogenetic analyses. From 1105 South African bird individuals and 170 species examined for lice, a total of 105 new louse-host associations were observed. Morphological and genetic examination of lice with these new host associations reveals a maximum of 66 louse species new to science. Results of this study support the observation that examining museum specimens is a useful way to investigate louse diversity and host associations.
Host associations of highly host-specific chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) across multiple avian species remains fairly undocumented in the West African country of Benin. Two hundred and seventeen bird specimens collected from multiple localities across Benin and housed at the Texas A&M University Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections were examined for lice. Lice were identified and genetic data (mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1α genes) were obtained and phylogenetically analyzed. In total, we found 15 host associations, 7 of which were new to science. Genetically, most lice from Benin were unique and could represent new species. Based on host associations and unique genetic lineages, we estimate we discovered a minimum of 4 and possibly as many as 8 new chewing louse species. Given the lack of current data on chewing louse species distributions in Benin, this study adds to the knowledge of host associations, geographic distribution, and genetic variability of avian chewing louse species in West Africa.
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