Lousy old coots: chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) infesting American coot, Fulica americana (Gruiformes: Rallidae), in Manitoba

Forty-five American coots, Fulica americana Gmelin, were examined for chewing lice during 1995 – 2016. Five species of lice were collected: Pseudomenopon pilosum (Scopoli), Laemobothrion atrum (Nitzsch) (Amblycera: Menoponidae and Laemobothriidae, respectively), Fulicoffula longipila (Kellogg), Incidifrons transpositus (Kellogg) and Rallicola advenus (Kellogg) (Ischnocera: Philopteridae). Prevalence of infestation (95% confidence interval, Sterne’s exact method) by at least one species of louse was 97.8% (88.17–99.88), while infestation by individual species, from greatest to least prevalence, was R. advenus (97.8%, 88.17–99.88), P. pilosum (93.3%, 81.46–98.15), F. longipila (84.4%, 71.26–92.54), I. transpositus (73.3%, 58.90–84.79) and L. atrum (17.8%, 8.33–32.04). Overall mean intensity (95% bootstrap confidence limits, 200 replicates) of infestation by chewing lice was 604.7 (484.30–770.59), while mean infestation for each species of louse, greatest to least, was P. pilosum (281.7, 206.88–407.17), R. advenus (275.7, 220.91–342.43), F. longipila (39.6, 30.89–49.71), I. transpositus (33.0, 23.21–59.58) and L. atrum (5.9, 0.38–14.13). A total of 26,605 lice were collected during this study. Generally speaking, female lice most often outnumber males, and this was the case for I. transpositus (χ2=6.1, p≤0.01) and L. atrum (χ2=5.8, p≤0.02). There were no significant differences in sex ratio for F. longipila (χ2=1.1, p≤0.30) and R. advenus (χ2=0.8, p≤0.39). Male P. pilosum significantly outnumbered females (χ2=98.0, p≤0.0001). Ratios of nymphs to females for each species, from highest to lowest: I. transpositus (5.1), P. pilosum (4.8), R. advenus (3.4), F. longipila (3.2) and L. atrum (1.6).