Columbicola columbae (Linnaeus, 1758)

Adams, Richard J., Price, Roger D. & Clayton, Dale H., 2005, Taxonomic revision of Old World members of the feather louse genus Columbicola (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera), including descriptions of eight new species, Journal of Natural History 39 (41), pp. 3545-3618 : 3548-3549

1. columbae species group

This group consists of seven species from the host genera Columba and Streptopelia . They have the anterior marginal head carina rounded, complete ( Figure 7 ); body elongate; each side of metanotum with two long, two short setae ( Figure 2 ). Male antenna with enlarged scape, spur on third segment ( Figure 7 ); genitalic mesosome with deep anterior groove, numerous pores ( Figure 8 ). Female subgenital plate groove variable ( Figures 10 , 25 ), but each side consistently with 3–9 medium to long setae (0.010 –0.034).

Columbicola columbae (L.)

( Figures 1, 7–10 )

Pediculus columbae L. 1758: 614. Type host: Columba livia J. F. Gmelin.

Nirmus filiformis Olfers 1816: 90 . Type host: Columba oenas L.

Philopterus (Lipeurus) baculus Nitzsch 1818: 329 . Type host: Columbiformes sp. Lipeurus antennatus Giebel 1874: 213 . Type host: Aviceda l. leuphotes (Dumont) (Falconiformes: Accipitridae ).

Lipeurus longisetaceus Piaget 1885: 57 . Type host: Tinamus solitarius (Vieillot) ( Tinamiformes : Tinamidae ). New synonymy.

Columbicola columbae juan-fernandez Eichler 1952a: 349 . Type host: Columba livia .

Description

Male dorsal–ventral view as in Figure 1 . Head as in Figure 7 , with medioposterior setae extending beyond posterior margin; 2 blade-like anterior marginal head setae ( AMHS: a in Figure 4 ), 2 spike-like posterior marginal head setae ( PMHS:b in Figure 4 ) on dorsoanterior head plate; dorsoanterior head plate width ( APW), 0.113 –0.147 (0.130); head width (HW), 0.24–0.28 (0.260); head length (HL), 0.48–0.55 (0.511); head length/ head width (HL/HW), 1.78–2.11 (1.96); scape length (SL), 0.108 –0.137 (0.123). Prothorax width ( PW), 0.20–0.23 (0.213); metathorax width ( MW), 0.26–0.29 (0.274). Genitalia as in Figure 8 , with genitalia width (GW: Figure 5 ), 0.093 –0.108 (0.101); anterior mesosomal pore encapsulated within broad pigmented border; mesosome with small posterior extension; anterior parameres distinctly convex. Total length (TL), 2.08– 2.38 (2.20). Female similar to male except as follows. Head as in Figure 9 , scape not enlarged; APW, 0.132 –0.157 (0.143); HW, 0.26–0.29 (0.274); HL, 0.53–0.59 (0.562); HL/ HW, 1.96–2.15 (2.03). Thorax with PW, 0.20–0.24 (0.220); MW, 0.26–0.33 (0.294). Ventral terminalia as in Figure 10 , with small, narrow subgenital plate groove, each side with 4–8 setae (0.012 –0.025). TL, 2.52–2.85 (2.65) .

Material

30 males, 26 females, ex C. livia , Japan, Libya, Borneo, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, United States (19). 1 female, ex C. guinea L., Republic of South Africa (1). 2 male types of Lipeurus longisetaceus , ex Tinamus solitarius (1).

Remarks

Columbicola columbae was the first member of the genus to be described. This louse, sometimes called the slender pigeon louse ( Price et al. 2003), is well known to pigeon fanciers and racers. It has also been the subject of considerable ecological study (see Introduction). Although C. columbae and its type host Columba livia are native to the Old World ( Gibbs et al. 2001), both now occur over much of the planet owing to repeated introductions of domesticated varieties of Columba livia (and their lice) by man.

In addition to the type host, Columbicola columbae parasitizes several other species of Columba in Europe, Central Asia, and Africa ( Table I). It has also been recorded from noncolumbiform hosts, possibly following phoretic dispersal on hippoboscid flies ( Johnson et al. 2002). However, since C. columbae is not known to be a true parasite of non-columbiform hosts, phoretic dispersal apparently does not yield successful establishment on such hosts.

Columbicola columbae has also been subject to many erroneous host records. An interesting example involves the louse Lipeurus longisetaceus , described by Piaget (1885) from the South American tinamou Tinamus solitarius . When the Piaget collection was donated to The Natural History Museum (London) years later, curator Theresa Clay could not locate the L. longisetaceus specimens and so she reported the specimens to be lost. The missing specimens, together with a lack of detailed descriptions or figures, forced Tendeiro (1965) to deem L. longisetaceus unidentifiable. Recently, two of the original Piaget L. longisetaceus specimens were found in The Natural History Museum collections. Careful examination shows these to actually be specimens of C. columbae . We therefore consider L. longisetaceus to be a new synonym of C. columbae .

Figures

Figures 1–18. Columbicola columbae: (1) dorsal-ventral male. Columbicola male: (2) metanotal margin with two long, two short setal pattern; (3) metanotal margin with three long, one short setal pattern; (4) dorsoanterior head—a5anterior medial head setae (AMHS), b5posterior medial head setae (PMHS); (5) genitalia, width (GW); (6) body measurements—head length (HL), dorsoanterior head plate width (APW), head width (HW), scape length (SL), prothorax width (PW), metathorax width (MW), total length (TL). C. columbae: (7) male dorsal head (arrow5medioposterior head setae); (8) male genitalia; (9) female dorsal head; (10) female ventral terminalia. C. bacillus: (11) male genitalia; (12) female ventral terminalia. C. stresemanni: (13) male dorsal head; (14) female dorsal head. C. claviformis: (15) male dorsal head; (16) male genitalia; (17) female ventral terminalia. C. tschulyschman: (18) male dorsal head.

Figures 19–39. Columbicola tschulyschman: (19) male genitalia; (20) female dorsal head; (21) female ventral terminalia. C. turturis: (22) male genitalia; (23) female ventral terminalia. C. keleri: (24) male genitalia; (25) female ventral terminalia. C. guimaraesi: (26) male dorsal head; (27) male genitalia; (28) female dorsal head; (29) female ventral terminalia. C. grandiusculus: (30) male dorsal head; (31) male genitalia; (32) female ventral terminalia. C. vitiensis: (33) male genitalia; (34) female ventral terminalia. C. meinertzhageni: (35) male dorsal head; (36) female dorsal head; (37) male genitalia; (38) female ventral terminalia. C. browni: (39) male dorsal head.