
Some host-ectoparasite associations that we recorded are atypical for mainland faunas. Tick faunas do not appear to be depauperate on the islands probably because immature stages attach to visiting or migrating birds. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed including ecological, geological, and vicariant factors. Many new records and a small number of undescribed species are reported.Main conclusions Compared with most ectoparasite faunas associated with the same host species on the adjacent mainland, ectoparasite species diversity on the barrier islands is depauperate.

Literature records and specimen records from the US National Tick Collection supplemented these data.Results Inventories of ectoparasite species recovered from vertebrates on each island are provided. Some ectoparasites were recovered from host nests or roosting sites. Ticks and louse-flies were also collected by dragging or flagging a white cloth through vegetation. However, with only one report from central and eastern Europe, I am now requesting the assistance of birders in the region and in other parts of the world to contribute to this ongoing research project.Īim To document ectoparasitic arthropods of terrestrial vertebrates inhabiting barrier islands and to offer preliminary interpretations.Location The coast of Georgia, USA, with most data presented for St Catherines, Sapelo, Jekyll, and Cumberland islands.Methods Ectoparasites were collected and identified from hundreds of live-trapped mammals, birds, and reptiles. To date, I have received 188 reports of birds of 82 different species with many contributed from western Europe. However, following our recent discovery of two seabird species on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic displaying oral fistulas, in 2016 I launched a citizen science research project requesting reports of birds with the condition in the world’s avifauna. First described in the 2000s in Stitchbirds (Notiomystis cincta) in New Zealand, it has rarely been reported in other species.

Sublingual oral fistulas are such an abnormality and involve the development of an opening (or fistula) in the floor of the oral cavity through which the tongue extends, resulting in its permanent exclusion from the mouth. This is particularly the case for birds with defects in their feeding apparatus that succumb to mortality rapidly through precipitous declines in their foraging efficiency and body condition. Birds with major physical abnormalities do not live for extended periods and, therefore, are rarely observed in the wild.
