Ectoparasites of Birds from a Rice Field in Samarahan Division, Sarawa

Authors

  • NUR ATHIRAH ASRIF
  • KARIM NURQAMAREENA
  • YEE LING CHONG

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33736/tur.1240.2018

Abstract

Birds are easily infested with ectoparasites due to their fitness, foraging behaviour, nesting cavities, micro- and macro-habitats. However, the status of ectoparasite infestation on birds in Sarawak is widely unknown. Rice field provides food resources to a variety of birds. This study was conducted to determine the species composition of ectoparasites from birds in a rice field at Kuap Village, Samarahan, Sarawak. A total of 69 birds consists of five species were caught from the rice field and the most common bird species found was the Chestnut Munia (Lonchura atricapilla). From these, 55 were found infested with ectoparasites with the infestation prevalence of 79.71%. A total of 2,513 ectoparasites from eight species were recovered from this study which comprised of six species of mites, one species of soft tick, and one species from the class Insecta. The most dominant ectoparasite species was mite namely, Nanopterodectes sp. with a total of 1,626 individuals. This baseline data on the ectoparasite composition and infestation of birds is important as some of the ectoparasites have the potential in transmitting zoonotic diseases to the farmers working at the rice fields in this region.

Keywords: Avian, Chestnut Munia, ectoparasite infestation, paddy plantation, Malaysia

References

Arthur, K. H. M., & Arthur, J. (1961). On bird species diversity. Ecology, 42(2), 594-598.

https://doi.org/10.2307/1932254

Avery, M. L. (1979). Food Preferences and damage levels of some avian rice fields pests in Malaysia. Bird Controls Seminars Proceedings, 22, 161-166.

Bambaradeniya, C. N. B., Fonseka, K. T., & Ambagahawatte, C. L. (1998). A preliminary study of fauna and flora of a rice field in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Biological Science, 25, 1-22.

Brinck, P., Svedmyr, A., & von Zeipel, G. (1965). Migrating Birds at Ottenby Sweden as Carriers of Ticks and Possible Transmitters of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus. Oikos, 16(1/2), 88-99.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3564868

Casas, G., Darski, B., Ferreira, P. M. A., Kindel, A., & Müller, S. C. (2016). Habitat structure influences the diversity, richness and composition of bird assemblages in successional Atlantic rain forests. Tropical Conservation Science, 9(1), 503-524.

https://doi.org/10.1177/194008291600900126

Cheke, R. A. (1972). Birds of the Cherangani Montane forests and their parasites. East African Wildlife Journal, 10, 245-249.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1972.tb00732.x

Chuluun, B., Mariana, A., Ho, T., & Mohd Kulaimi, B. (2005). A preliminary survey of ectoparasites of small mammals in Kuala Selangor Nature Park. Tropical Biomedicine, 22(2), 243-247.

Clayton, D. H., & Walther, B. A. (1997). Collection and quantification of arthropod parasites of birds. Host-parasite evolution: general principles and avian models, 419-440.

Clayton. D. H., & Walther B. A. (2001). Influence of host ecology and morphology on the diversity of Neotropical bird lice. Oikos, 94, 455-467.

https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.940308.x

Clayton, D. H., Koop, J. A. H., Harbison, C. W., Moyer, B. R., & Bush, S. E. (2010). How Birds Combat Ectoparasites. The Open Ornithology Journal, 3, 41-71.

https://doi.org/10.2174/1874453201003010041

Cody, M. L. (1985). Habitat selection in birds. New York: Academic Press.

Conn, S. J., Carleton, R., Daniel, B. R., & Conn, D. B. (2004). Utilization of Bluebird nest boxes by insects at diverse sites in northeast Georgia. Georgia Journal of Science, 62(1), 1.

Constantinescu, I. C., Chişamera, G., Mukhim, K. B., & Adam, C. (2016). Feather mites fauna (Acariformes: Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea) of Meghalaya (India). Preliminary data from three scientific expeditions, 23-24.

Department of Agriculture Sarawak. (2016). Potential of Sarawak traditional rice for export. Retrieved November 4, 2017, from http://padi.mardi.gov.my/dokumen/slide/L7%20Potential%20of%20Sarawak%20Traditional %20Rice%20_Datu%20(DOA%20Sarawak).pdf.

Diaz-Real, J., Serrano, D., Pérez-Tris, J., Fernández-González, S., Bermejo, A., Calleja, J. A., De la Puente, J., De Palacio, D., Martínez, J. L., Moreno-Opo, R., & Ponce, C. (2014). Repeatability of feather mite prevalence and intensity in passerine birds. PloS one, 9(9), e107341.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107341

Eadie, J. M., Elphick, C. S., Reinecke, K. J., & Miller, M. R. (2008). Wildlife values of North American ricelands. In S. W. Manley (Ed.), Conservation in Ricelands of North America (pp. 7-90). Stuttgart, Arkansas: USGS Publications Warehouse.

Fujioka, M., Lee, S. D., Kurechi, M., & Yoshida, H. (2010). Bird use of rice fields in Korea and Japan. Waterbirds,

https://doi.org/10.1675/063.033.s102

(Special Publication 1), 8-29.

Gillespie T. R., Chapman C. A., & Greiner, E. C. (2005). Effects of logging on gastrointestinal parasites infection and infection risk in African primates. Journal of Applied Ecology, 42, 699-707.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01049.x

Godfrey, S. S., Moore, J. A., Nelson, N. J., & Bull, C. M. (2010). Unravelling causality from correlations: revealing the impacts of endemic ectoparasites on a protected species (tuatara). Parasitology, 137, 275-286.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182009991314

Hernandes, A. F., & Valim, P. M. (2012). The genus Nanopterodectes Mironov, 2009 (Acari, Proctophyllodidae), with descriptions of three new species from antbirds (Passeriformes: Thamnophilidae) in Brazil. Systematic Paristology, 83, 227-242.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-012-9385-4

Hopla, C. E., Durden, L. A., & Keirans, J. E. (1994). Ectoparasites and classification. Revue scientifique et technique Office international Epizooties,13(4), 985-1017.

https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.13.4.815

Hung, N. M. (2009). Chewing lice from wild passerines (Aves, Passeriformes) from Vietnam, with description of a new species of the genus Brueelia (Phthiraptera, Ischnocera, Philopteridae). Acta Parasitologica, 54(2), 154-157.

https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-009-0022-6

Jameson, L. J., Morgan, P. J., Medlock, J. M., Watola, G., & Vaux, A. G. (2012). Importation of Hyalomma marginatum, vector of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, into the United Kingdom by migratory birds. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases, 3(2), 95-99.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2011.12.002

Kevin, K. K. (2012). A study on irrigation efficiency for paddy in Sekuduk Chupak paddy plantation scheme (master's thesis). Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kuching, Sarawak.

Klaus, C., Gethmann, J., Hoffmann, B., Ziegler, U., Heller, M., & Beer, M. (2016). Tick infestation in birds and prevalence of pathogens in ticks collected from different places in Germany. Parasitology Research, 115(7), 2729-2740.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5022-5

Knee, W., & Proctor, H. (2006). Keys to the families and genera of blood and tissue feeding mites associated with Albertan birds. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, 2(2), 1-18.

https://doi.org/10.3752/cjai.2006.02

Konto, M., Fufa, G. I., Zakaria, A., Tukur, S. M., Watanabe, M., Ola-Fadunsin, S. D., Khan, M. S., Shettima, Y. M., & Babjee, S. M. A. (2015). Tick fauna of Malaysian red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) in Bangi, Malaysia. Veterinary World, 8(10), 1167-1171.

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2015.1167-1171

Koop, J. (2015). Darwin's finch species threatened by parasitic flies. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://www.seeker.com/darwins-finch-species-threatened-by- parasitic-flies-1770629499.html.

Lindeborg, M., Barboutis, C., Ehrenborg, C., Fransson, T., Jaenson, T. G., Lindgren, P. E., Lundkvist, A., Nyström, F., Salaneck, E., Waldenström, J., & Olsen, B. (2012). Migratory birds, ticks, and crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 18(12), 2095-2097.

https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1812.120718

Makbul, N. S., & Wong, A. (2016). The diversity of birds in Kota Belud Bird Sanctuary, Sabah. Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation, 13, 43-56.

Mariana, A., Zuraidawati, Z., Ho, T. M., Kulaimi, M., Saleh, I., Shukor, M. N., & Shahrul-Anuar, M. S. (2005). A Survey of Ectoparasites in Gunung Stong Forest Reserve, Kelantan, Malaysia. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 36(5), 1125-1131.

Martins, T. F., Fecchio, A., & Labruna, M. B. (2014). Ticks of the genus Amblyomma (Acari: Ixodidae) on wild birds in the Brazilian. Systematic & Applied Acarology, 19(4), 385-392.

https://doi.org/10.11158/saa.19.4.1

Myers, S. (2009). Birds of Borneo: Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan. Cape Town, South Africa: New Holland Publishers Ltd.

Nur Munira, A., Nurul Salmi, A. L., Shahrul Anuar, M. S., Mohd Abdul Muin, M. A., Amirrudin, A., & Nur Juliani, S. (2014). Diversity and temporal distribution of birds in rice-growing landscape, Northern Peninsular Malaysia. Sains Malaysiana, 43(4), 513-520.

Nurqamareena, K., Chong, Y. L., Mohd-Azlan, J., & Ramji, M. F. S. (2018). A survey of understory birds at a rice field and mixed dipterocarp forest in Kuching, Sarawak. Malaysian Applied Biology Journal, 47(1), 217-222.

Phillipps, Q., & Phillipps, K. (2013). Phillipps' Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Oxford, England: John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd.

Sodhi, S., N. (2002). A comparison of bird communities of two fragmented and two continuous southeast Asian rainforests. Biodiversity and Conservation, 11(6), 1105-1119.

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015869106512

Wahab, A. R., & Farah Haziqah, M. T. (2015). Ectoparasites fauna of scavenging chickens (Gallus domesticus) from Penang Island, Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Veterinary Research, 6(1), 33-42.

Wamiti, S. W. (2014). Diversity and abundance of lice on Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus and Red- capped Lark Calandrella cinerea in two ecologically different habitats in central Kenya. Kenya: Kenyatta University.

Wetmore, A. (1936). The number of contour feathers in passeriform and related birds. Auk, 53, 159-169.

https://doi.org/10.2307/4077274

Wood, C. L., Byers, J. E., Cottingham, K. L., Altman, I., Donahue, M. J., & Blakeslee, A. M. H. (2007). Parasites alter community structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(22), 9335-9339.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0700062104

Downloads

Published

2018-12-10

How to Cite

ASRIF, N. A., NURQAMAREENA, K., & CHONG, Y. L. (2018). Ectoparasites of Birds from a Rice Field in Samarahan Division, Sarawa. Trends in Undergraduate Research, 1(1), a45–51. https://doi.org/10.33736/tur.1240.2018

Issue

Section

Resource Science and Technology