Menacanthus bonariensis, Cicchino, Armando C., 2003

Cicchino, Armando C., 2003, Menacanthus bonariensis new species (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae), parasitic on the White­bellied Sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis hypoleuca (Todd, 1915) (Aves: Passeriformes: Fringillidae) in, Zootaxa 358, pp. 1-11 : 10

Relationship of M. bonariensis n. sp. with the other louse species during the breeding season of the host

Mason (1985) and Darrieu et al. (1988) give data on nesting chronology of Z. c. hypoleuca from three localities situated a few kilometers apart from the sampling sites of this study. These studies show that that finch nests from the beginning of September until the first week of February. Usually 2 to 4 eggs are laid per nest and, after an incubation period averaging 13 days, nestlings appear. An infestation of M. bonariensis has been observed in an adult male captured in October 6th (3 males, 4 females, 11 nymphs and numerous viable eggs) and in an adult female captured in December 12th carrying a large number of unhatched eggs, both individuals in the climax of the breeding period. A similar pattern has been found in Machaerilaemus cfr. laticorpus, with a significant record of a massive infestation of this species on a young individual with juvenile plumage captured in January 10th. These records, although fragmentary, show that colonization of young individuals by M. bonariensis or by M. cfr. laticorpus takes place primarily on the nestlings – as soon as the postnatal molt has been completed – by direct parental contacts in the nest and, alternatively, by body­to­body contact among the nestlings. It was not possible to detect any effects exerted by postjuvenile molt on the success of louse colonization on adult hosts.