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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