Chewing lice of swan geese (Anser cygnoides): New host-parasite associations

The Korean Journal of Parasitology
By: , and 

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Abstract

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) that parasitize the globally threatened swan goose Anser cygnoides have been long recognized since the early 19th century, but those records were probably biased towards sampling of captive or domestic geese due to the small population size and limited distribution of its wild hosts. To better understand the lice species parasitizing swan geese that are endemic to East Asia, we collected chewing lice from 14 wild geese caught at 3 lakes in northeastern Mongolia. The lice were morphologically identified as 16 Trinoton anserinum (Fabricius, 1805), 11 Ornithobius domesticus Arnold, 2005, and 1 Anaticola anseris (Linnaeus, 1758). These species are known from other geese and swans, but all of them were new to the swan goose. This result also indicates no overlap in lice species between older records and our findings from wild birds. Thus, ectoparasites collected from domestic or captive animals may provide biased information on the occurrence, prevalence, host selection, and host-ectoparasite interactions from those on wild hosts.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Chewing lice of swan geese (Anser cygnoides): New host-parasite associations
Series title The Korean Journal of Parasitology
DOI 10.3347/kjp.2016.54.5.685
Volume 54
Issue 5
Year Published 2016
Language English
Publisher The Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine
Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Description 7 p.
First page 685
Last page 691
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