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Issue: Vol. 1392 No. 1: 15 Jan. 2007
Type: Articles
Published: 2007-01-15
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1392.1.2
Page range: 31–68
Abstract views: 55
PDF downloaded: 7

Ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA

4757 Habersham Ridge SW, Lilburn Georgia 30047
Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460-8042, USA
Department of Biology, Box C-64, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX 79832, USA
Research Planning, Inc., PO Box 328, Columbia, SC 29202, USA
Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, P.O. Box 357, Lake Junaluska, NC 287450357, USA
Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, USA
Arthropods Ectoparasites Ectodytes Vertebrates Great Smoky Mountains Tennessee North Carolina

Abstract

We review previously published accounts of ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates and report on the collections from 4 species of reptiles, 54 species of birds, and 47 species of mammals from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, or immediately adjacent lands in North Carolina and Tennessee, USA.  Our list includes 1 species of beetle, 2 hemipteran bugs, 9 flies, at least 42 species of lice, 23 species of fleas, and at least 75 species of Acari (11 ticks/64 mites).  We discuss the potential for transmission of pathogens by these ectoparasites and the relevance of disjunct populations of boreal species at high elevations in the Great Smoky Mountains.  

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