Microarthropods from birds’ plumage: lifetime collecting method

Abstract

The original lifetime method of microarthropods collecting, including non- parasitic, from birds’ plumage, on the basis of application of a household vacuum cleaner with the demountable filter is described in this publication. The researches were carried out on the East Murman. With the help of this method, the authors collected soil microarthropods, including 5 oribatid mite species (adult individuals of Liebstadia similis (Michael, 1888), Parachipteria punctata (Nicolet, 1855), Microppia minus (Paoli, 1908), larva of Limnozetes sp. and Camisia sp.), Bdellidae and other mites, and also collembolans from the plumage of 107 individuals of 14 species of birds. Till now, non-parasitic microarthropods were taken only from the plumage of the dead birds when body or skin were settled down on Berlese-Tullgren’ funnels. This classic for soil-zoological researches method allowed finding various non-parasitic microfauna into the plumage of birds. However, the comparative analysis of efficiency of two methods showed low efficiency of a lifetime method in comparison with the one used earlier.

Keywords

• lifetime collecting method
• microarthropods
• birds’ plumage