Chewing lice found on aquatic birds collected from some marshes of Thi-Qar governorate-South of Iraq

This study was performed to detect the chewing lice infested on some aquatic birds in some marshes of Thi-Qar governorate-South of Iraq during the period from December 2012 to April 2013, for this aim 76 bird specimens belonging to 4 bird species were examined for the chewing lice infestation.
The results found seventeenth out of totally 76 (22.36%) birds were found to be infested with at least one chewing louse species and three different species of chewing lice were reported: Ardeicola expallidius (Blagovesshtchensky, 1940) 7.89%, Fulicoffula gallinulae (De Geer, 1778) 13.15%, Incidifrons sp. (Blagoveshtchensky, 1951) 9.21% have been recorded from Iraq for the first time. A significant differences were found among infested birds according to the lice species (P ≤ 0.05).
The result revealed that the infestation by the lice on one aquatic bird different between single and double.
A significant differences was found among infested birds according to the infestation type (P ≤ 0.05). No significant differences was found between male and female of infested birds. The result revealed a significant differences among infested birds according to the monthly distribution (P ≤ 0.05) and the highest infestation rates was in January 41.17%.