The first record of ostrich feather louse (Struthiolipeurus struthionis) collected from farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus) in the United Arab Emirates

Vet World Vol.17 January-2024 Article-13

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(1): 125-130

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.125-130

Nighat Perveen^1,2, Sabir Bin Muzaffar¹, Mohammad Nafi Solaiman Al-Sabi³, Layaly Hamdan², Adnan Aldarwich², Daniil Iliashevich², Khaja Mohteshamuddin², Olivier Andre Sparagano^4,5, and Arve Lee Willingham²

1. Department of Biology, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O. Box 15551, UAE.
2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O. Box 15551, UAE.
3. Department of Basic Medical Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
4. Agricultural Sciences and Practice, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, GL7 6JS, UK.
5. Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Background and Aim: Ostrich (Struthio camelus) farming in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a relatively new field of farming. Farmed ostriches are susceptible to ectoparasite infestation, which affects their production. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of ectoparasites on ostriches raised on a farm in Abu Dhabi Emirate.

Materials and Methods: The feathers of 42 ostriches (26 females and 16 males) were collected and morphologically examined for ectoparasites. In total, 283 lice (89 males and 194 females) were collected from birds. However, there were no ticks or other ectoparasites. Lice were preserved in 1.5 mL tubes containing 70% ethanol and were later identified using taxonomic keys. The prevalence, mean intensity of infection, and mean abundance were estimated.

Results: One louse species, Struthiolipeurus struthionis was identified. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of S. struthionis in ostriches raised in the UAE with an overall prevalence of 88%. The prevalence of lice was significantly higher in July (100%) than that in May (66.7%). Likewise, the mean intensity and abundance of lice were significantly higher in June (10.6 and 9.94, respectively) than in May (3.25 and 2.2, respectively).

Conclusion: The high prevalence of lice poses a serious risk to ostrich farming by negatively affecting the health and productivity of ostriches. Keywords: lice, ostrich parasites, prevalence, Struthiolipeurus struthionis, United Arab Emirates.

Keywords: lice, ostrich parasites, prevalence, Struthiolipeurus struthionis, United Arab Emirates.

How to cite this article: Perveen N, Muzaffar SB, Al-Sabi MNS, Hamdan L, Aldarwich A, Iliashevich D, Mohteshamuddin K, Sparagano OA, and Willingham AL (2024) The first record of ostrich feather louse (Struthiolipeurus struthionis) collected from farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus) in the United Arab Emirates, Veterinary World, 17(1): 125-130.

Received: 29-09-2023 Accepted: 06-12-2023 Published online: 18-01-2024

Corresponding author: Arve Lee Willingham E-mail: awillingham@uaeu.ac.ae

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.125-130

Copyright: Perveen, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.