Chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera) from wild birds in southern Vietnam, with descriptions of two new species

Abstract

A total of 239 individuals of 50 bird species were examined for chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) in southern Vietnam. Fifty-six birds of 20 species were parasitised by 15 species of lice belonging to 10 genera from two suborders, Amblycera: Menacanthus, Meromenopon, Myrsidea, and Ischnocera: Alcedoecus, Brueelia, Cuculicola, Meropoecus, Penenirmus, Philopteroides and Philopterus. Thirteen louse samples from Passeriformes were identified to genus only because they contain inadequate material. A total of 29 host-louse associations were found, of which nine are new, including: (1) two new species of the genus Brueelia, which are described and named in this paper: Brueelia binhchauensis from Megalaima lineata (Vieillot, 1816) (Piciformes: Megalaimidae), and Brueelia malacocincla from Malacocincla abbotti Blyth, 1845 (Passeriformes: Pellorneidae); (2) first records of lice from Cyornis hainanus (Ogilvie-Grant, 1900); and (3) the first record of Myrsidea claytoni Hellenthal & Price, 2003 from Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos (Gmelin, 1788) (Passeriformes: Eurylaimidae), here regarded as a case of natural host-switching. A portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene for some species of chewing lice was sequenced in order to assess their genetic divergences.

Chewing lice from high‐altitude and migrating birds in Yunnan, China, with descriptions of two new species of Guimaraesiella

“…By contrast with the higher prevalences of lice in our samples compared with those previously reported from Vietnam, the mean intensity of lice in our sample is much lower (1.96 in Ailaoshan, 0.37 in Jinshanyakou; 1.08 overall) than that reported from Vietnam (3.61-19.2; Sychra et al, 2009;Najer et al, 2012aNajer et al, , 2012bNajer et al, , 2014. The mean intensity is known to be reduced in the post-breeding season compared with the pre-breeding season (Sychra et al, 2011); however, at least some of the Vietnamese data are from the same time of the year as those obtained in the present study (Najer et al, 2012a(Najer et al, , 2012b and thus cannot explain this difference between the Chinese and Vietnamese data entirely.…”

“…Moreover, because more than one species of Brueelia-complex lice may occur on the same host species, it is possible that older reports refer to more than one louse species from the same host as 'Brueelia sp.' Ignoring host species for which only a single specimen was examined, the prevalence of Brueelia-complex lice in our study ranges from 25% to 100% (Table 1), which is generally higher than published prevalences for Brueelia-complex lice (Sychra et al, 2009;Najer et al, 2012aNajer et al, , 2012bNajer et al, , 2014.…”

“…The prevalence of lice is known to differ over the year and often shows a peak in August to September (Foster, ; Kettle, ; Chandra et al ., ; Galloway & Lamb, ; Lamb & Galloway, ; Dhoundiyal & Kumar, ; but see also Ash, ). However, some of the studies in Vietnam were conducted at times of the year similar to that of the present study (Sychra et al ., ; Najer et al ., ). The breeding and moulting cycles of the hosts are thus unlikely to have influenced the differences in prevalence of lice between our collections and those in Vietnam.…”

“…Comparisons with published prevalences of Brueelia ‐complex species are difficult because all of these were published prior to the recent revision of this complex (Gustafsson & Bush, ) and the correct genus of many of the published louse records is thus unknown. For example, at least six genera of Brueelia ‐complex lice occur on ‘babblers’ (Gustafsson & Bush, ), although all of the published prevalences for Brueelia ‐complex lice on these hosts are given as ‘ Brueelia sp.’ Moreover, because more than one species of Brueelia ‐complex lice may occur on the same host species, it is possible that older reports refer to more than one louse species from the same host as ‘ Brueelia sp.’ Ignoring host species for which only a single specimen was examined, the prevalence of Brueelia ‐complex lice in our study ranges from 25% to 100% (Table ), which is generally higher than published prevalences for Brueelia ‐complex lice (Sychra et al ., ; Najer et al ., , , ).…”

“…In recent years, this has begun to change. A large number of new host records and species have been described from across South and Southeast Asia (Hellenthal & Price, ; Mey, , ; Price et al ., ; Sychra et al ., ; Eduardo & Villa, ; Najer et al ., , , ; Mey & Barker, ; Gustafsson & Bush, ; Gustafsson et al ., , , , ). However, despite this recently increased interest in the chewing louse fauna of the region, no chewing lice are yet known from the majority of passeriform species in Southeast Asia.…”