Family RICINIDAE

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Family RICINIDAE

Compiler and date details

R.L. Palma Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Introduction

The Ricinidae Neumann, 1890, a morphologically uniform family comprising three genera and about 100 species, are exclusively parasitic on species of two orders of birds. The cosmopolitan Ricinus is the largest genus and includes about 65 known species found on members of the order Passeriformes (Nelson 1972; Rheinwald 1968). The remaining ricinid species belong to two genera, Trochiloecetes and Trochiliphagus, and are restricted to the Hummingbirds (Order Apodiformes), a family of birds endemic to the Americas (Carriker 1960). Only two species of Ricinus have been recorded from Australia—the name Ricinis ernstlangi was applied by Calaby (1970) and Calaby & Murray (1991) to the figure reproduced here as Fig. 8, but this species is unknown in the fauna. This low number reflects more the lack of collecting and research rather than the actual diversity of the family. Specimens of unidentified Australian Ricinus are available in collections (Green & Palma 1991) and more species will certainly be found on the many Australian passeriform birds as yet not searched for lice.

Although the Ricinidae are restricted to only two major groups of hosts, most species of Ricinus have been found on several bird species, often belonging to more than one genus. As in the Laemobothriidae, a low degree of host specificity at the species level, together with the apparent low number of ricinid lice per individual host, has resulted in a proliferation of species names and a consequent high number of synonyms (Nelson 1972; Rheinwald 1968).

Ricinids are the largest lice found on passeriform birds, some species reaching a length of 5 mm. In general appearance Ricinidae resemble the Laemobothriidae, but they are distinguished from them and from all remaining amblyceran families by the presence of a conspicuous flap-like protrusion (pulvinus) on each side of the mouth-parts, by the fusion of the meso- and metanotum with the first abdominal tergum, and by the absence of labial palpi (Clay 1970). Also their mouth-parts show some degree of reduction and modification associated with the ability to pierce the skin and feed on the blood of the host (Clay 1949; Nelson 1972).