Ricinus fringillae De Geer, 1778

Ilieva, Mihaela, 2009, Checklist of the chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from wild birds in Bulgaria, Zootaxa 2138 (1), pp. 1-66 : 18

Ricinus fringillae De Geer, 1778

Reports: [1] Balát (1958); [2] Touleshkov (1962); [3] Touleshkov (1964a); [4] Touleshkov (1974); [5] Ilieva (2005).

Synonyms: Ricinus subpallidus Blagoveshtchensky, 1951 [1]; Ricinus medius Uchida, 1926 [1]; Ricinus japonicus (Uchida, 1915) [1]; Ricinus irascens (Burmeister) [1, 2, 3, 4].

Hosts: Anthus spinoletta (L.) [1]; Emberiza citrinella L. [4, 5]; Fringilla coelebs L. [1, 2, 3, 4]; Parus ater L. [1]; Prunella collaris (Scopoli) [1]; P. modularis (L.)* [5].

Distribution in Bulgaria: Pirin Mountain – Vihren, Rila monastery, Pirin Mountain – Banderitza, Primorsko, Vitosha Mountain [1]; Petrich [2]; Asenovgrad [3]; Berkovitsa, Mirkovo (Sofia Region), Botevgrad, Gabrovo, Shipka (Stara Zagora Region), Ticha (Sliven Region), Godech [4]; Nova Cherna (Silistra Region) [5].

Remarks: As parasite of Prunella modularis (L.), Ricinus elongatus (Olfers, 1816) is known ( Price et al. 2003). The presence of Ricinus fringillae De Geer, 1778 on P. modularis is a new louse-host association.