The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habits of the species. The scientific name also refers to its migratory characteristics. The morphologically similar mourning dove was long thought to be its closest relative, and the two were at times confused, but genetic analysis has shown that the genus Patagioenas is more closely related to it than the Zenaida doves.
The Ischnocera is a large suborder of lice mostly parasitic on birds but including a large family parasitic on mammals. The genus Trichophilopterus is also found on mammals (lemurs) but probably belongs to the "avian Ischnocera" and represents a host switch from birds to mammals. It is a chewing louse, which feeds on the feathers and skin debris of birds. Many of the avian Ischnocera have evolved an elongated body shape. This allows them to conceal themselves between the feather shafts and avoid being dislodged during preening or flight.
Columbidae is a bird family consisting of pigeons and doves. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily feed on seeds, fruits, and plants. The family occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms.
The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon is a member of the bird family Columbidae. In common usage, this bird is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".
The Nicobar pigeon is found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, east through the Malay Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is the only living member of the genus Caloenas, and may be the closest living relative of the extinct dodo, as well as the extinct Rodrigues solitaire.
The laughing dove is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Western Australia where it has established itself in the wild around Perth and Fremantle. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. A rufous and black chequered necklace gives it a distinctive pattern and is also easily distinguished from other doves by its call. Other names include laughing turtle dove, palm dove and Senegal dove while in India the name of the little brown dove is often used.
Coextinction and cothreatened refer to the phenomena of the loss or decline of a host species resulting in the loss or endangerment of an other species that depends on it, potentially leading to cascading effects across trophic levels. The term originated by the authors Stork and Lyal (1993) and was originally used to explain the extinction of parasitic insects following the loss of their specific hosts. The term is now used to describe the loss of any interacting species, including competition with their counterpart, and specialist herbivores with their food source. Coextinction is especially common when a keystone species goes extinct.
A bird louse is any chewing louse of order Phthiraptera which parasitizes warm-blooded animals, especially birds. Bird lice may feed on feathers, skin, or blood. They have no wings, and their biting mouth parts distinguish them from true lice, which suck blood.
Geophaps is a small genus of doves in the order Columbiformes. Established by George Robert Gray, it contains three extant species. The plumage and distribution suggests that all species within the genus have formed from a common ancestor and that through adaptive radiation they have varied greatly in size, shape and ecology.
The red avadavat, red munia or strawberry finch, is a sparrow-sized bird of the family Estrildidae. It is found in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia and is popular as a cage bird due to the colourful plumage of the males in their breeding season. It breeds in the Indian Subcontinent in the monsoon season. The species name of amandava and the common name of avadavat are derived from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, from where these birds were exported into the pet trade in former times.
Troctomorpha is a suborder of barklice, booklice, and parasitic lice in the order Psocoptera. There are more than 30 families and 5,800 described species in Troctomorpha.
The Philopteridae are a family of Ischnocera, chewing lice mostly parasitic on birds.
Brueelia is a genus of lice in the family Philopteridae, containing the following species:
Saemundssonia is a genus of chewing lice belonging to the family Philopteridae. These lice are parasitic on aquatic birds, especially on members of the order Charadriiformes, but also on Anseriformes, Gruiformes, Pelecaniformes and Procellariiformes. Members of this genus have a broad triangular head bearing a frontal plate with a dark backwards-pointing projection.
Columbicola extinctus, also known as the passenger pigeon chewing louse, is an extant species of phtilopterid louse that was once believed to have been extinct with its only known host, the passenger pigeon, prior to its rediscovery living on band-tailed pigeons. Like other members of the genus Columbicola, is a long, slender louse that shows marked sexual dimorphism in the antennae, as the male's are much longer than those of the female in the third segment. It is between 2.15 and 2.47 mm long overall. The male's head is between 0.52 and 0.59 mm long and broadens to form a slight shoulder at the anterior plate. The female's head is slightly largely at 0.53 to 0.64 mm. The thorax has two very long setae on each side. The generic name Columbicola comes from the Latin words columba, "dove," and -cola, "inhabitant," in reference to the genus's primary hosts.
Campanulotes elegans is a species of lice in the disputed, probably paraphyletic, family Philopteridae, the chewing lice, or in the family Goniodidae.
Strigiphilus is a genus of chewing louse in the suborder Ischnocera. It was circumscribed in 1910 by Eric Mjöberg.
Colpocephalum is a genus of chewing louse. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature selected Colpocephalum zebraBurmeister, 1838 as its type species in the 1950s. There are approximately 135 species in this genus, and they are ectoparasites of birds in at least a dozen different orders.
Rallicola is a genus of chewing louse. It is an ectoparasite of rails and other birds. It was named by Thomas Harvey Johnston and Launcelot Harrison in 1911. There are two subgenera aside from the nominotypical subgenus: Aptericola, whose species are found on kiwi birds, and Huiacola, a monospecific subgenus consisting of Rallicola extinctus, once found on the huia.
Nanopsocetae is an infraorder of psocids in the order Psocoptera. There are more than 20 families and 5,200 described species in Nanopsocetae.
