Chewing Lice Found on Captive Tufted Puffin, Fratercula cirrhata

Abstract

The tufted puffin, Fratercula cirrhata , is a mediumsized seabird belonging to the family Alcidae and is widely distributed throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It breeds mainly on islands and cliffs in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, the Kuril Islands, Alaska, and the coast of California, and, in Japan, a small number of birds breed on islands in eastern Hokkaido. F. cirrhata is classified as 1A in the endangered species list, i.e., critically endangered, in the Japanese Red Data Book [1]. For species protection, research, and conservation, they are bred in captivity in aquariums in Japan. We have observed a case of concentrated parasitism by chewing lice on captive tufted puffins, and we report it as basic data for the captive breeding of this bird. In August 2020, a tufted puffin chick died on 3 days after hatching at an aquarium. A large number of chewing lice were found on the body surface during autopsy and were collected. The specimens were fixed in 70% ethanol and taken to the Wild Animal Medical Center (WAMC) of Rakuno Gakuen University for taxonomical examination. The lice were mounted in 70 % ethanol for microscopic observation, and morphological and biometric data were recorded using a lucida camera (OLYMPUS DP20). The lice specimens are preserved in the WAMC (Accession No. AS18180). Of these specimens, five adult males and 10 females were studied (Table 1; Fig. 1). The lice belonged to the family Philopteridae of the suborder Ischnocera, which was based on the following features: the snout did not extend from the head (Fig. 2), there were two claws on each leg, and the antennae were elongated and filiform with five sections. In addition, the abdominal length was greater than the width, the frontal tergum was conspicuous, and the frontal edge was flat and transparent but did not reach the ridge of the antennal anterior edge. There was a groove on the antennal anterior dorsal side, single genitalia, and there were no aneurysms with bristles on the external genitalia at the abdominal end of the female (Fig. 3). The specimens were identified as being of the genus Quadraceps according to Price et al. [2]. Based on the measurements and the shape of the male paramere [3,4], the lice were identified as Q. helgovauki (Timmermann, 1974). The genus Quadraceps mainly parasitizes birds of the order Charadriiformes, and approximately 120 Quadraceps species are currently known [2]. Eight of these species, namely Q. aethereus (Giebel, 1874), Q. alcae (Denny, 1842), Q. ambestrix (Timmermann, 1974), Q. antiquus (Timmermann, 1974), Q. helgovauki , Q. maritima (Kellogg and Chapman, 1899), Q. obliquus (Mjöberg, 1910), and Q. pacificus (Kellogg and * Corresponding author:Mitsuhiko ASAKAWA (E-mail: askam@rakuno.ac.jp) ♯ Co-first authors ABSTRACT During the postmortem of tufted puffin chicks (Fratercula cirrhata), who died a few days after hatching in the aquarium, a large number of chewing lice were collected. These lice were identified as Quadraceps helgovauki (Philopteridae) based on morphological characteristics. This is the first record of Q. helgovauki from F. cirrhata and in Japan.