First records of chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) in Pacific migratory shorebirds wintering in Ecuador

Chewing lice were collected from small shorebirds (Charadriformes: Scolopacidae) overwintering in foraging grounds of coastal Ecuador. On 27 occasions at least one louse (3.7%) was collected from six host species. Based on external morphological characters, at least two species of chewing lice could be preliminary identified (family: Menoponidae), including Actornithophilus umbrinus(Burmeister, 1842) and Austromenopon sp. A. umbrinus was found in the Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri), Least Sandpiper (C. minutilla), Stilt Sandpiper (C. himantopus), Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) and Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor), whileAustromenopon sp. is presumably the first record collected from the Surfbird (Aphriza virgata). These findings indicate that the distribution of these chewing lice species covers at least the regions around the equator (latitude 0°) until the Arctic in the north, but probably also includes the entire winter distribution area of the host species. This is the first study of chewing lice from Ecuador's mainland coast and more research is required to understand the host-parasite ecology and ectoparasitic infection in shorebirds stopping over the region.本研究从在厄瓜多尔沿海觅食地越冬的小型鸻形目（Charadriformes）鹬科（Scolopacidae）滨鸟体表采集了啮虱（chewing lice）。在27次采样事件中，从6种宿主个体上采集到了至少1头啮虱，占总采样数的3.7%。基于外部形态特征，初步鉴定出至少2种啮虱（均属于长角虱科（Menoponidae）），分别为*Actornithophilus umbrinus*（Burmeister, 1842）与*Austromenopon* sp.。其中*A. umbrinus* 分别采自西滨鹬（Calidris mauri）、小滨鹬（C. minutilla）、长脚滨鹬（C. himantopus）、半蹼鸻（Charadrius semipalmatus）以及威尔逊瓣蹼鹬（Phalaropus tricolor）；而*Austromenopon* sp. 极有可能是首次在滨浪鹬（Aphriza virgata）体表采集到的该类群记录。上述研究结果表明，此类啮虱的分布范围至少覆盖赤道（纬度0°）周边至北极北部区域，且大概率涵盖宿主物种的全部越冬分布区。本研究是首个针对厄瓜多尔大陆沿海地区啮虱的调查，未来仍需开展更多研究，以阐明途经该区域的滨鸟的宿主-寄生生态学特征及其体表寄生虫感染情况。