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PROTOCALLIPHORA HIRUDO (DIPTERA: CALLIPHORIDAE) INFESTING SAVANNAH SPARROW, PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS (AVES: FRINGILLIDAE), IN EASTERN QUEBEC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Jean Bedard  and
Jeremy N. McNeil
Jean Bedard
Affiliation:
Département de biologie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec G1K 7P4
Jeremy N. McNeil
Affiliation:
Département de biologie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec G1K 7P4
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Extract

An ecological study of ground nesting sparrows has been underway for several years at Isle Verte (15 km east of Rivière-du-Loup) Québec, in a hayfield–salt marsh ecotone with an average density of six ground nesting passerine pairs per hectare. In both 1976 and 1977 one brood of Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, containing four and three nestlings, respectively, were observed to be infested with dipterous larvae which have been identified as Protocalliphora hirudo Shannon and Dobroscky. This constitutes the first record of this parasite in Québec and the first time that the Savannah Sparrow has been recorded as a host. Protocalliphora hirudo was originally considered as a species restricted to western North America (Shannon and Dobroscky 1924) but has since been collected from an unidentified sparrow in Massachusetts (Johnson 1925), on Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) nestlings in New York (George and Mitchell 1948), and the Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) in Ontario (Bennett 1957). Bennett (1957), in his study of Protocalliphora spp. in Ontario, described P. hirudo as an ubiquitous species although most frequently found attacking ground nesting birds in open habitats similar to our study area.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 111 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1979

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References

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