Checklist of chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera) on birds of Peru

Study Extent

Most of the records and reports of lice in birds in Peru were published in national and international media between 1936 and 2020. As these data are scattered over various databases (virtual and physical), the objective of this study was to summarize this literature and present it as an annotation list, specifying the hosts and the localities where the hosts were captured.

Sampling

The study of bird lice in Peru began with the renowned world pioneer and specialist in Neotropical Mallophaga, Melbourne Carriker Jr. one of the first researchers to describe lice species in Peruvian birds. Carriker's long trajectory in the study of malophaga began in 1902 but it was not until 1936 that he published a registry of mallophaga, including 26 species of lice collected from nine species of birds of the order Tinamiformes (tinamúes, partridges) from the departments of Amazonas, Cajamarca, Junín, La Libertad, Lima, Puno and San Martín. From 1936 to 1967, Carriker continued to publish more records of mallophagous birds from the neotropics, including those from Peru. Among these multiple publications, 26 mention at least one species collected in Peru, making a total of 78 species of mallophaga reported in Peru during this period, and establishing a broad base for this country.

Quality Control

This revised list was prepared from an extensive bibliographic review of reported lice records on birds from Peru from 1936 to 2020 in the main international databases, as well as physical documents from collections and museums. This list does not include the records of abstracts at scientific meetings, congresses or symposia. The nomenclature of lice follows that of Price et al. (2003) and Smith et al. (2020).

Method steps

1. The revised list is made up of two sections: the first contains a list of the lice species, their synonyms, hosts, the locality where the birds were collected, the corresponding reference, and in some cases a comment; the second includes the list of host birds, their common name, their conservation status according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and their respective lice. This section is arranged in alphabetical order according to the orders and families of the birds (appendix 1). The host nomenclature follows that of Schulenberg et al. (2010) and Plenge (2020). Additionally, a map of Peru with its respective departments is presented to indicate the distribution of the species and hosts registered in each department.

1. Phthiraptera
   rank: order
2. Amblycera
   rank: suborder
3. Menoponidae
   rank: family
4. Ricinidae
   rank: family
5. Philopteridae
   rank: family
6. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
7. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
8. Insecta
   rank: class

Peru is one of the countries with the highest diversity of birds worldwide, having about 1,876 species in its territory.