Ectoparasites of Columbina passerina insularis (Columbiformes) in the National Zoological Park, Havana, Cuba

Abstract

Ectoparasites of 18 free-living Cuban Ground Doves, Columbina passerina insularis (Columbiformes: Columbidae), captured in the National Zoological Park, Havana, Cuba, were identified. The collected ectoparasites included two species of lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera): Columbicola passerinae (77.1%), and Physconelloides eurysema (50%), as well as four species of feather mites (Astigmata: Falculiferidae): Pterophagus lomatus (83.3%), Byersalges talpacoti (50%), Byersalges phyllophorus (72.2%), and Hyperaspidacarus tridentatus (27.7%). Pterophagus lomatus, B. phyllophorus, and H. tridentatus represent new records for Cuba.

The Common Ground Dove, Columbina passerina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Columbiformes: Columbidae), has a wide distribution, spanning the southern United States (USA) to northeastern Brazil in South America. In all, 18 subspecies are recognized, with nine occurring in the Antilles (BirdLife International, 2020). Of these, the Cuban Ground Dove or “tojosa”, Columbina passerina insularis (Ridgway, 1888), is the most widely distributed and, in Cuba, is the most common bird of the family Columbidae (Schwartz, 1970).

Parasitological studies of C. passerina have previously recorded the presence of the following ectoparasites: the hippoboscid fly Microlynchia pusilla (Speiser, 1902) in Mexico (Tella et al., 2000); the feather mites Pterophagus lomatus Gaud and Barré, 1992 in Guadeloupe (Gaud & Barré, 1992a); Byersalges phyllophorus Gaud and Barré, 1988 in Guadeloupe, Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Santa Lucía (Gaud & Barré, 1988, 1992a); Byersalges talpacoti (Cerny, 1975) in Barbados, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the USA, Santa Lucia, and Brazil (Atyeo & Winchell, 1984; Gaud & Barré, 1988, 1992a); and Hyperaspidacarus tridentatus Atyeo and Smith, 1983 in Brazil and the USA (Atyeo & Smith, 1983). The lice Physconelloides eurysema (Carriker, 1903) was observed in the USA, Mexico, Salvador, the Grand Cayman Islands, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama (Canal zone), and Cuba (Price et al., 1999); Hohorstiella passerina Hill and Tuff, 1978 in Cuba (Hill & Tuff, 1978); and Columbicola passerinae (Wilson, 1941) in the British West Indies, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, the Virgin Islands, the USA (Alabama and Texas), and Cuba (Clayton & Price, 1999).

This study provides novel information on geographical distribution of ectoparasites of the Cuban Ground Dove to further contribute to the existing knowledge about the parasites of wildlife in Cuba.

In the National Zoological Park (PZN), located west of the city of Havana (Cuba), 18 Cuban Ground Doves were captured with mist nets during September and October 2007. Ectoparasites were manually extracted and placed in 70% ethanol. Subsequently, lice were cleaned in 20% KOH and passed through ascending ethanol solutions (40%, 80%, and 100%), were rinsed for 24 h in clove oil, and finally mounted in Canada Balsam. Feather mites were rinsed in Nesbitt solution (40 g of chloral hydrate, 25 mL of distilled water, and 2.5 mL of concentrated HCl) for 72 h at room temperature and mounted on a permanent slide in Berlese’s medium (Price et al., 2003). Identification of the lice was carried out following the methods of Clayton and Price (1999) and Adams et al. (2005). The keys and species descriptions detailed by Atyeo and Smith (1983), Atyeo and Winchell (1984), Gaud and Barré (1988, 1992a, b), and Gaud and Atyeo (1996) were used for the identification of mites. For lice, the prevalence (P) was expressed as the percentage of hosts infected with 1 or more individuals of a given lice species.

In the plumage of the 18 sampled Cuban Ground Doves, 38 lice individuals (Insecta: Phthiraptera) belonging to two species, as well as feather mites representing four species of the family Falculiferidae (Acari: Astigmata), were collected.

Regarding the order Phthiraptera, both a wing louse, Co. passerinae (n=23; P=77%), and a body louse, Ph. eurysema (n=15; P=50%), were collected from the primary and secondary wing feathers, and body feathers, respectively (Figure 1). The prevalence of lice was similar to that reported by Valim et al. (2004) for Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1810) in Brazil. Lice are permanent parasites occurring on birds with approximately 5,000 described species, of which about 3,000 are known from birds, and many more remain undescribed, particularly in the Neotropics (Price et al., 2003). The genus Columbicola Ewing 1929 is one of the genera with higher number of species and has approximately 88 valid species parasitizing doves and turtledoves (Price et al., 2003; Adams et al., 2005; Bush et al., 2009). Most of these species are described from these hosts from the Old World (Clayton & Price, 1999). The species Co. passerinae was described by Wilson (1941) from C. passerina in Auburn and Slocum (USA: Alabama), and further reported from this host by Clayton and Price (1999) in the British West Indies, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, the Virgin Islands, the USA (Alabama and Texas), and Cuba. This louse species was also collected from other columbids: C. talpacoti, C. inca (Lesson, 1847) (= Scardafella inca), C. minuta (Linnaeus, 1766), C. picui (Temminck, 1813), Claravis mondetoura (Bonaparte, 1856), and Cl. pretiosa (Ferrari-Pérez, 1886) (Tendeiro, 1965; Palma, 1973; Clayton & Price, 1999; Valim et al., 2004; Coimbra et al., 2012).

Figure 1. Lice collected from Columbina passerina insularis. (a) Dorsal view of Columbicola passerinae (wing lice), female and male, and (b) dorsal view of Physconelloides eurysema (body lice), female and male, collected from the primary and secondary wing feathers and body feathers, respectively.

The genus Physconelloides Ewing, 1927 has been described as parasitizing New World columbiforms (Tendeiro, 1987) almost exclusively. Of the 30 species and subspecies described in the genus, Price et al. (1999) retained only 13 species and described three new species. Physconelloides eurysema was reported from six avian species of the genus Columbina, including C. passerina from Cuba (Price et al., 1999; Valim et al., 2004).

Feather mites were not quantified due to their high number and the fact that they could not be fully extracted. Four species belonging to the family Falculiferidae (Astigmata: Pterolichoidea) were collected: P. lomatus (83.3%; Figure 2a), H. tridentatus (27.7%; Figure 2b), B. phyllophorus (72.2%; Figure 3a), and B. talpacoti (50%; Figure 3b). Pterophagus lomatus was described by Gaud and Barré (1992a) from C. passerina in Guadeloupe, and from C. talpacoti in Guyana. Further, it was reported from the latter host in Brazil (Valim et al., 2004). Hyperaspidacarus tridentatus was formerly reported from C. passerina in Guadeloupe and Jamaica, and from C. talpacoti in Honduras, Guyana, Mexico, USA, and Brazil (Atyeo & Smith, 1983; Pedroso & Hernandes, 2016). Byersalges phyllophorus was described from C. passerina (Gaud & Barré, 1988) in Guadeloupe, and from C. talpacoti in Brazil (Moraes et al., 2011; Pedroso & Hernandes, 2016). Byersalges talpacoti was reported from four species of columbiforms in the New World: C. passerina in Barbados, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Santa Lucia, and Brazil; from C. talpacoti in Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil; from C. squammata (Lesson, 1831), Uropelia campestris (von Spix, 1825) and Zenaida auriculata (Des Murs, 1847) in Brazil; and Z. aurita (Temminck, 1810) and Z. asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) in Cuba (Atyeo & Winchell, 1984; Gaud & Barré, 1992b; Valim et al., 2004; Goulart et al., 2011; Moraes et al., 2011; Pedroso & Hernandes, 2016).

Figure 2. Mites collected from Columbina passerina insularis. (a) Dorsal view of male Pterophagus lomatus; (b) dorsal view of Hyperaspidacarus tridentatus, female and male.

Figure 3. Mites collected from Columbina passerina insularis. (a) Dorsal view of Byersalges phyllophorus, female and male; (b) dorsal view of Byersalges talpacoti, female and male.

The mites P. lomatus, B. phyllophorus, and H. tridentatus collected in this study are reported for the first time in Cuba. While the lice species reported in this study, although not new reports for Cuba, reaffirm the wide distribution and close of the genera Columbicola and Physconelloides with the Columbiformes.