Competition in Terms of Habitat Preference Between the Two Ectoparasitic Members of Order Phthiraptera

Abstract: The present study was carried out to investigate the habitat preference of ectoparasites (Myrsidea invadens and Brueelia chayanh) on Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis). 144 Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) were examined round the year (2009-2010) for the collection of two ectoparasitic species Myrsidea invadens and Brueelia chayanh belongs to the order Phthiraptera from the host Acridotheris tristis from Faisalabad City. It was observed that Myrsidea invadens (54.7%) was found to be as most common ectoparasite round the year on Common Myna (Acriditheris tristis) of Faisalabad city and Brueelia chayanh (45.2%) was second most numerous species found on Acriditheris tristis. Ectoparasites of different species when found on same host are usually negatively correlated in terms of their habitat preferences.The present study of habitat preferences of two species (Myrsidea invadens and Brueelia chayanh) showed that these two species specifically avoided interspecific competition as most Myrsidea invadens were collected from dorsal side of the examined birds and Brueelia chayanh from the ventral side/ area of the birds moreover body shapes of ectoparasites are directly related to their habitat as it was observed during the study that Myrsidea invadens has rounded body with bigger legs so it prefers dorsal part of its host body and Brueelia chayanh has elongated body shape so it prefers the ventral side of the host.