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

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.

Characterization of the mitochondrial genome of Tetrameres grusi and insights into the phylogeny of Spirurina

“…Tetrameres nematodes are the important members of suborder Spirurina nematodes, which known as the ‘avian stomach nematodes’. Tetrameres nematodes are the etiological agents of tetrameriosis in poultry, and they may also infest wild birds, including penguin ( Fink et al, 2004 ; González-Acuña et al, 2020 ; Werneck et al, 2020 ). Mature female worms are blood-red colored with a special subspherical morphology, as they lie embedded in the crypts of Lieberkühn while feeding on blood.…”