Visual Examination
Close inspection of the head, neck and wings will often yield small to moderate numbers of lice which can be removed with forceps. It’s a good idea to search different body regions of the bird as this will usually yield different louse taxa. Restraining the birds legs with a strip of Velcro or tape helps to stop them struggling. Most lice will be found either in the head / neck area or on the wings. Their size will vary (usually related to the size of the host) but on seabirds they typically range between 1.5 - 6 mm. Rarely some species reach more than 10 mm.
Dust-ruffling
Dusting live birds with an insecticidal powder, then ruffling their
feathers over a collecting surface such as a large sheet often removes
much larger numbers of lice. With small to medium sized birds its possible
to place them in a plastic bag containing insecticide and rub the insecticide
through the feathers. Depending on the effectiveness of the insecticide
most of the lice will be found in the bottom of the bag after 10 - 20 minutes.
Regular ruffling of the feathers during this period greatly increases the
number collected. For larger birds the insecticide can be applied either
with fingers or using a plastic squeeze bottle to 'puff' the insecticide
under the feathers. Suitable insecticides include pyrethrin and particularly
'Sevin-5' (active ingredient carbaryl).
Dead Birds
Placing a dead bird in a sealed paper envelope at room temperature
for 2-3 days is perhaps the simplest (although slightly smelly) method.
Most of the lice will either leave the bird or be clearly visible on the
body by gently combing of the feathers. Be sure to seal the envelope as
they have a habit of escaping and do not add more than one host species
to the same envelope.
Storage and Preservation
Ideally specimens from individual hosts should be placed in separate
vials and labelled with their host, date of collection and site locality.
If this is not possible then specimens from the same host species and locality
can be stored together however on no account should lice from different
host species be stored together. Most of the specimens will be used for
DNA sequencing so it is VERY IMPORTANT that the material is kept preserved
in 95% ethanol. In the short term 70% ethanol is acceptable however this
should be replace with 95% as soon as possible. Specimens should be sent
to me at the following address:
Finally many thanks to everyone helping to collect material. Your efforts are much appreciated by our research group here in Glasgow, and will be rewarded with large acknowledgements in all the publications which stem from this work. For more information I can be contacted by e-mail at :Vince Smith Graham Kerr Building University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ Scotland, UK
vincent.s.smith@udcf.gla.ac.uk
This document can also be found at: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~vsmith/collection.html
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