Nests, parasites and quarantine, a march update

wow... ok.... I haven't posted a lab note in forever.... and I HAVE been doing stuff, but as a quick warning, those who would rather not look at parasite pics should probably avoid this report.

before we get to the gross stuff, here's some little buddies (baby pigeons!) I have found during my forays into local pigeon nests to understand their breeding patterns. these little guys are about 5 days old and live in a cozy little nest over a canal in Princeton.

 

As I am currently in my social distancing/quarantine period, I should have had a little extra time to work on some of the extra special specimens I have collected during my time in the field.

these specimens are of course, ectoparasites found on the feathers of the pigeons I have been annoying for the past year.

Ok, I know I like to say that pigeons are very clean birds, and they are.

However, every animal ( including YOU) has a community of external parasites and epiphytes that live in hair, skin, feathers and scales of their hosts. Most of these parasites are tiny, around the size of the typical human head louse. However, in special cases these parasites and epiphytes can be rather large. Take the famous "sloth moths" that live within the fur of two and three toed sloths. These moths feed on the algae in the fur of sloths, and breed in their droppings. the sloth gets nothing out of this, but the moths get food, a place to live, and protection from predators.

these "bugs", a collection of mites and various types of lice, are quite fascinating creatures ( even if a bit creepy) and I am planning to study them and their distribution as part of my research into the greater story of pigeon evolution in North America.

so what are we waiting for?

let's meet some of these delightful fellows!

Columbicola columbae:

C. columbae is a wingless louse that chew on the feathers of it's hosts. like most ectoparasites, C. columbae is specialized to live on certain hosts. compared to most parasites, it has a plethora of potential food sources. A whole FOUR species of pigeon are available to this species, including the stock dove, triangular spotted, pale backed, and of course rock pigeon.

C. columbae causes little damage to the pigeon it lives on. The pigeon, however does not like the little hitchhikers on it's feathers and tries to preen them off whenever possible. this has caused an evolutionary arms race between the pigeon and louse, with lice becoming flatter and pigeon beaks becoming more adept to picking off lice.

different color morphs of lice have also popped up to suit different colors of pigeon host, all in order to better conceal themselves from prying eyes and picking beaks. (see image below)

 

Coloceras tovornikae:

the "Darth Vader" louse, so called due to its helmet like head. Not much is known about these little guys except that they are VERY rare in North America, with only one record of their occurrence coming from domestic pigeons in Ontario. because I have found li'l dark lords at Boston, South Carolina and Key West sites, these lice are showing a major

range expansion along with their hosts.

 

mites:

I know the least about these tiny guys of any of my specimens. what I know is they are small, Shield-shaped and orange.

that's it.

and due to all of the diversity of parasitic mites and how little they have been studied, this might even be a new species

(or maybe not)

getting more info might take a while......

 

until then,

happy social isolation period!

I hope you have a sizable stash of toilet parper

Sarah