The ectoparasites of brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula in New Zealand

Abstract

The ectoparasites of the brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula were examined at 15 original release sites in New Zealand. Three species of fur mite—Atellana papilio Domrow, 1958, Petrogalochirus dycei (Domrow, 1960), and Murichirus anabiotus Domrow, 1992—were present in all population samples from the North, South, Stewart, and Kawau Islands. M. anabiotus was absent from the Chatham Islands. A. papilio was isolated from 82 (98%) of the 84 digested pelts, P. dycei from 78 (93%) of 84, and M. anabiotus was found in 67 (93%) of the 72 pelts digested from populations where the mites were present. The follicle mite Marsupiopus trichosuri Fain, 1968 was detected in two (7%) and one (3%) of pelts examined from Kawau Island and the Orongorongo Valley, respectively. Trichosurolaelaps crassipes Womersley, 1956 was present on 99% of possums and absent only from Kawau Island. Nymphs and larvae of the cattle tick Haemaphysalis longicornis were isolated from four (33%) of the 12 Northland pelts. The loss of ectoparasitic mites resulting from the transfer of possums from their native Australia to New Zealand has been minimal in mites with a direct life cycle. Acariasis of the rump and tail was attributed to M. trichosuri, and A. papilio is implicated in fur breakage. © The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997.