Ὶῖ῞ῘΊ (J. Yamashina Inst. Ornithol.), 38:97῍99, 2007 ῌYamashina Institute for Ornithology
Report ῍ΐῒ῎ The Louse Fly Ornithoica exilis (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) Collected from the Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae (Gruiformes: Rallidae)
Takeo Yamauchi῎ and Kiyoaki Ozaki῎῎
Abstract. The ectoparasitic louse fly Ornithoica exilis (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) was collected from the Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae (Gruiformes: Rallidae) in Okinawa Island, Japan. The present finding represents the first record of O. exilis from G. okinawae and from Okinawa Island. Key words:Ectoparasite, Gallirallus okinawae,Hippoboscidae, Okinawa Island, Ornithoica exilis ῏ῌῑῌῐ῍ ῗῙ῝ῌ ῑ῏ΐῌ ῒῐῌ ῟ῌ Ornithoica exilis
The Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae (Gruiformes: Rallidae) is endemic to Okinawa Island, Japan. Because the distribution of G. okinawae is limited, and the population is estimated to be only about 1,220 (Ozaki et al. 2002, Ozaki 2005), the species is considered one of the rarest birds in Japan. It receives special protection under Japanese law, and its collection is prohibited. There has been no information as regards ecto- parasites of this endangered species. During a study of G. okinawae in Nishime-dake, Kunigami Village, Okinawa Island, the junior author collected two louse flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) from the body surfaces of two juveniles of the Okinawa Rail (Metal band numbers: 10A-95128 on 21 August 2005, and 10A-95129 on 22 August 2005). Both hosts were healthy. The louse fly specimens were placed in 70% ethanol, and were later identified as females of Ornithoica exilis (Fig. 1) on the basis of the following morphological characters: setae of para-anal tuft numerous, robust, and long; anchor-like spines near abdominal apex as large as or larger than those near abdominal base; scutellum with 4῍6 pairs of preapical bristles. Ornithoica exilis is widely distributed in the Oriental and Australian regions and has awide host range: normally or less frequently breeding on members of the Coraciiformes, Passeriformes, Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Columbiformes and Falconiformes, with stray records from Ciconiiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgi- formes, Apodiformes, Trogoniformes and Piciformes (Maa 1966). In Japan, the fly has only been recorded from Honshu (Ishikawa Prefecture), Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Islands, and has been found infecting the following species: White-breasted Waterhen
Received 29 May 2006. ῎ Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1῍5῍1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739῍8529, Japan. ῎῎ Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, 115 Konoyama, Abiko, Chiba 270῍1145, Japan. 97 98 Takeo Yamauchi and Kiyoaki Ozaki
Fig. 1. Ornithoica exilis collected from Gallirallus okinawae, lateral view.
Amaurornis phoenicurus chinensis,Japanese Sparrowhawk Accipiter gularis,Ruddy King- fisher Halcyon coromanda,Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis, and crow῍ (Kishida 1932, Maa 1966, 1967, Mogi et al. 2002). The present finding represents the first record of O. exilis from G. okinawae and from Okinawa Island.
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Miyako Tsurumi of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, for sending the flies described in this report to the first author, and to Mr. Desmond Allen for commenting on and revising the original draft. This study was done with the permission of the Agency for Cultural A#airs, and the Ministry of the Environment. The present study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
References Kishida, K. 1932. Ornithoica distincta Kishida. In Iconographia Insectorum Japonicorum, Edita Prima,p.245, Fig. 475. Hokuryukan Co. Ltd., Tokyo. (in Japanese) Maa, T. C. 1966. The genus Ornithoica Rondani. Pacific Insects Monograph 10:10ῌ124. Maa, T. C. 1967. A synopsis of Diptera pupipara of Japan. Pacific Insects 9:727ῌ760.
῍ Maa (1966) recorded O. exilis from crow without scientific name in Ishigaki-jima. From the locality, the crow seems to be Corvus macrorhynchos osai. The Louse Fly Ornithoica exilis Collected from the Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae 99
Mogi, M., Mano, T. & Sawada, I. 2002. Records of Hippoboscidae, Nycteribiidae and Streblidae (Diptera) from Japan. Medical Entomology and Zoology 53 Supplement 2:141ῌ165. Ozaki, K. 2005. The declining distribution and population of Okinawa Rail. Iden 59:29ῌ33. (in Japanese) Ozaki, K., Baba, T., Komeda, S., Kinjyo, M., Toguchi, Y. & Harato, T. 2002. The declining distribution of Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae.Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology 34:136ῌ144.
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