location 4
Personally I think they all have it...they just live with it...and they only succomb when under stress....funny that as I think you wouldnt find it in the wild...they would succomb pretty quick and I dont think they would find or test dead ones...just my opinion....casehulsebosch wrote:"airsack mite has never been found in Gouldians in the wild" is one of Sarah Pryke's quotes I remember well at one of the counts I attended.
cheers, Case
Tauranga, New Zealand.
Not so, according to Sonia Tidemann's 1992 paper.casehulsebosch wrote:"airsack mite has never been found in Gouldians in the wild" is one of Sarah Pryke's quotes I remember well at one of the counts I attended.
cheers, Case
Tauranga, New Zealand.
Tidemann (1992) wrote:Parasitism of wild Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae) by the air-sac mite Sternostoma tracheacolum.
ABSTRACT Sixty-two percent of 26 wild caught Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae) were infected with Sternostoma tracheacolum, a parasitic rhinonyssid mite. The intensity of infection was higher in adult finches than juveniles, and higher in juvenile females than juvenile males. Histopathological investigation of wild Gouldian Finches revealed bronchopneumonia and air sacculitis associated with mite infection. Although this mite may not have contributed to the decline of Gouldian finch populations in the wild during the past 20 yr, it may be suppressing the return of the finch to its former status.