title: Little known chewing lice (Phthiraptera) infesting crab plover Dromas ardeola Paykull, 1805 (Charadriiformes: Dromadidae) from the Red Sea.
abstract: Scanty information is available for many species of chewing lice of marine birds. Through this work we investigated one of most characteristic marine bird for chewing lice. Seven individuals of crab plovers Dromas ardeola Paykull, 1805 were trapped using standard mist nets on Humr Island in Farasan Archipelago, Saudi Arabia. Two species of chewing lice were found to infest these birds: Actornithophilus ardeolae Timmermann, 1954 of suborder Amblycera and Quadraceps brunneus (Nitzsch in Giebel, 1866) of suborder Ischnocera. Diagnostic characters, data of specimens examined, high definition photos and host distribution map are provided through this paper.
authors.affiliation: Research Chair of Insect Vector Borne Diseases, Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Azzam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alahmed
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biology, Science College, Ta'if University, Ta'if, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shobrak
authors.affiliation: Research Chair of Insect Vector Borne Diseases, Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Salah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kheir
authors.affiliation: Research Chair of Insect Vector Borne Diseases, Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: mgnasser@ksu.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D019156:Indian Ocean; D058326:Ischnocera / Q000145:classification*; D062312:Islands; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D012529:Saudi Arabia
keywords: Actornithophilus ardeolae; Chewing lice; Crab plover; Quadraceps brunneus; Saudi Arabia