New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
The ectoparasites of brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula in New
Zealand
JOHN M. CLARK
c/- Post Office
Inglewood, New Zealand
DAVID D. HEATH
MIROSLAW STANKIEWICZ
AgResearch
Wallaceville Animal Research Centre
P.O. Box 40 063
Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Abstract The ectoparasites of the brushtail possum
Trichosurus vulpecula were examined at 15 original release sites in New
Zealand. Three species of fur mite--Atellana papilio Domrow, 1958,
Petrogalochirus dycei (Domrow, 1960), and Murichirus anabiotus
Domrow, 1992--were present in all population samples from the North, South,
Stewart, and Kawau Islands. M. anabiotus was absent from the Chatham
Islands. A. papilio was isolated from 82 (98%) of the 84 digested pelts,
P. dycei from 78 (93%) of 84, and M. anabiotus was found in 67
(93%) of the 72 pelts digested from populations where the mites were present.
The follicle mite Marsupiopus trichosuri Fain, 1968 was detected
in two (7%) and one (3%) of pelts examined from Kawau Island and the
Orongorongo Valley, respectively. Trichosurolaelaps crassipes Womersley,
1956 was present on 99% of possums and absent only from Kawau Island. Nymphs
and larvae of the cattle tick Haemaphysalis longicornis were isolated
from four (33%) of the 12 Northland pelts. The loss of ectoparasitic mites
resulting from the transfer of possums from their native Australia to New
Zealand has been minimal in mites with a direct life cycle. Acariasis of the
rump and tail was attributed to M. trichosuri, and A. papilio is
implicated in fur breakage.
Keywords possums; biological control; ectoparasites;
acariasis; vectors; New Zealand; mites
Received 23 September 1996; accepted 20 December 1996
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 1997, Vol. 24: 199-204
0301-4223/2402-0199 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (484K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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