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Type: Article
Published: 2014-01-24
Page range: 419–433
Abstract views: 90
PDF downloaded: 36

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

Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Department of Parasitology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), 18-Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam
Phthiraptera lice Alcedoecus Brueelia Cuculicola Menacanthus Meromenopon Meropoecus Myrsidea Penenirmus Philopteroides Philopterus new species new host-louse associations host-switching birds Coraciiformes Cuculiformes Passeriformes Pici

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.