Inventaire taxonomique des poux de la volaille domestique

Abstract

Ectoparasites often have impacts that are easily visible externally, notably the itching they induce and the scabs or deplumed areas they cause.Lices are indeed a special case; they have significant pathological impacts and economic repercussions on production poultry, as well as an insidious but marked pathogenicity on wildlife birds. They are thus of great interest at the ecological level and from the point of view of the associated host-parasite evolution. The sampling of lice was carried out in the communes of El Kala (El Mellah and El Frine) and Ain El Karma Wilaya of El-Tarf. The ectoparasites were collected from a number of different poultry species: turkeys, domestic hens, and pigeons. The lice were collected from the subjects using a pair of bare-handed forceps. The collected lice were then preserved in plastic bottles containing 70° alcohol and sent to the laboratory of Chadli Bendjedid University for identification. The latter is based on morphological criteria that can be observed under a microscope and described in the keys of Emerson (1956), Tuff (1977), and Furman and Catts (1977).This survey allowed us to collect a total of 1328 lice belonging to 8 genera and 9 different species.Our results identified a diversity of species: -Chicken: Two suborders within Amblycera: Menopon gallinae and Menacanthus stramineus, and Ischnocera: Lipeurus caponis, Goniocotes gallinae, Goniodes dissimilis, and Goniodes gigas. -Turkey: Two species: Chelopistes meleagridis and M. stramineus. -Pigeon: Two species: Columbicola columbae and Campanulotes bidentatus.