Guam Insects

Fulgaroids? resting/feeding on banana. Detected and photographed at night by Jim McConnell on 21 Oct 2008. Specimens kept.

Email from Charles Bartlett to Aubrey Moore, 26 Nov 2008

Hi Aubrey,

The fulgoroid is a tricky one.  I consulted with Lois O'Brien just to test my
impressions.  It appears to be either an Achilixiidae or a weird group of cixiids,
the Bennarellini.  The former is more likely.  If it is a cixiid, the females will
have a distinct ("sword-shaped") ovipositor, similar to that seen on a cicada.  An
Achilixiid would have a reduced ovipositor, and you might have troubles separating
males from females.  

That is not much help, I guess, but it is a start.  Both are relatively small groups
- should not be too hard to get a species on them.

-CRB

University of Delaware
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
250 Townsend Hall
531 S College Ave
Newark, DE 19716-2160

Dept phone (302) 831-2526
Fax (302) 831-8889

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Caption for image

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AM20081021.001 BL=2.69 mm

Mike Ehlert, a University of Guam psychology professor, brought in lice collected from experimental pigeons.  Specimens were donated to the University of Guam insect collection.

“Looking at the photos, these lice belong to the genus Columbicola (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera)” (email from Vince Smith to Aubrey Moore, December 20, 2008.

These are the first bird lice to be included in the collection.  A literature search turned up a single journal article in Guam’s bird lice.  M. A. Carriker (1949) reported on a collection of lice from twelve species of birds collected on Guam by a Naval Medical Research Unit during World War II.  He identified fourteen species of bird lice, including seven new species, two new subspecies and 1 new genus.  Several of the bird hosts have become extinct or are no longer found in the wild following accidental introduction of the brown tree snake.  It is probable that some of the bird lice described by Carriker became extinct with their hosts.  Parasites of bird species rescued by captive breeding programs may have fared no better.  Captive birds are often treated with pesticides to kill parasites.  There is evidence that a louse species associated with the California condor was wiped out in this way (LaFee 2006).

References

Carriker, M. A. 1949. On a collection of Mallophaga from Guam, Marianas Islands. Proceedings of thew United States National Museum 100(3254):1–24.
Full text available at: http://www.phthiraptera.org/Publications/0330.pdf
A checklist of bird louse species and their hosts, extracted from this document, is available here: bird-lice-of-guam

LaFee, Scott 2006. Parasites Lost: Of lice and men and the value of small, disgusting things.  San Diego Union-Tribune, November 2, 2006. 
Full text available at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061102/news_lz1c02parasit.html

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Client001 phoned to say hello.

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