Species and abundance of ectoparasitic flies (Diptera) in pied flycatcher nests in Fennoscandia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Birds host several ectoparasitic fly species with negative effects on nestling health and reproductive output, and with the capability of transmitting avian blood parasites. Information on the abundance and distribution of the ectoparasitic fly genera Ornithomya (Hippoboscidae) and Protocalliphora (Calliphoridae) in northern Europe is still generally poor, and we thus explored their geographic range and occurrence of these flies in the nests of a common avian model species, the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca.

Methods

Nests of F. hypoleuca were collected from 21 locations across Fennoscandia in summer 2013, across a latitudinal gradient (between 56 °N - 70 °N) and examined for the presence of fly puparia. Adult specimens of Ornithomya spp. were also collected f

SUBMITTER: Eeva T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4687113 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature