| Parasitism is a successful way of life,with about 50%of all known animal and plant species being parasites,representing a large fraction of the earth's biodiversity.Parasites influence almost every aspect of the life history of their host.Chewing lice(Insecta:Phthiraptera)are abundant ectoparasites of birds,and they are highly adapted to life on the integument of their hosts,rarely leave these hosts during their brief lives.So far,more than 5500 chewing louse species have been described,many species of chewing lice exhibit a high degree of host specificity and are important models of host-parasite coevolution.Chewing lice are relatively benign parasites,but when present in large numbers,they can cause severe irritation and reduced body mass,survival,sexual selection and reproductive success of the hosts.Therefore,the knowledge of this group of chewing lice also has an important practical significance besides the theoretical one.Considering the scarcity of published records of lice in China,additional data on the prevalence of chewing lice on wild birds is needed.To characterize and demonstrate the diversity and distribution of chewing lice in bird communities from China,and the relationship between host morphological characteristics and chewing lice prevalence and intensity.Between July 2012 and June 2016 at nineteen study sites across southern China region,2210 birds belonging to 215 species of 45 families and 8 orders were examined for ectoparasites.A total of 1005 chewing lice from 186 individuals of 79 bird species belonging to 6 orders and 24 families were identified.Conclusions were summarized as follows:(1)We detected an overall prevalence of 28.1%(622)comprising 117 infected species from 36 families.The mean abundance and mean intensity of chewing lice was 2.4 and 8.4,respectively.Six hundred and three individual birds of 104 passerine species were infested by chewing lice,19 birds of 13 non-passerine species were infested by chewing lice.(2)Chewing lice specimens were identified as belonging to the suborders Amblycera and Ischnocera,distributed within 17 genera.Among them,37 kinds of chewing lice were identified to species.28 lice species were reported for the first time from China.(3)Among families,the prevalence of chewing lice,which ranged from zero in the Picidae to 83.1±6.2%in Eurylaimidae,varied highly significantly(?2= 38.096,df?16,p = 0.001).The chewing lice prevalence varied significantly among sampled avian species(?2 = 47.274,df = 29,p = 0.017),with Silver-breasted Broadbill(Serilophus lunatus)having the highest prevalence(97.2±2.8%).(4)The mean abundance(?2 = 10.9,df= 11,p<0.001)and mean intensity(?229.8,df= 11,p = 0.002)were highly significantly different among species.(5)We found no significant difference(?2=5.940,df = 3,P = 0.115)among climatic zones.However,there was significant effect on host food guild(?2=8.759,df=2,p = 0.013),with insectivorous birds having the lowest prevalence(23.2±3.1%).(6)Chewing lice prevalence were a positive correlation with host body mass(r =0.356,p = 0.008).Mean intensity was also positively correlated with host body mass(r = 0.292,p = 0.032).In contrast,length of the bill was not correlated with mean intensity(r = 0.193,p = 0.162). |
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