Evidence of Songbird Intoxication From Rozol® Application at a Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colony

Concerns about avian poisonings from anticoagulant rodenticides have traditionally focused on secondary poisoning of raptors exposed by feeding on contaminated mammalian prey. However, ground foraging songbirds can be directly poisoned from operational applications of the anticoagulant rodenticide Rozol® (0.005% chlorophacinone, active ingredient) applied as a grain bait, at black-tailed prairie dog Cynomys ludovicianus colonies. A dead western meadowlark Sturnella neglecta recovered from the study prairie dog colony displayed hemorrhaging in brain and pectoral muscle tissue, and it contained chlorophacinone residue concentrations of 0.59 and 0.49 µg/g (wet weight) in the liver and intestinal contents, respectively. Chlorophacinone residues from two Rozol-colored songbird droppings found at the study colony were 0.09 and 0.46 µg/g (wet weight). The timing of the meadowlark mortality and the occurrence of discolored droppings show that songbird exposure and poisoning can occur weeks after a Rozol application.

Systematics of the genus Syringophilopsis Kethley, 1970 (Acari: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) with description of three new species from North American passerines

Three new species of the genus Syringophilopsis collected from the United States are described and figured: S. certhiae sp. nov. ex Certhia americana Bonaparte (Certhiidae) from California, S. sittae sp. nov. ex Sitta carolinensis Latham (Sittidae) also from California, and S. sturnellus sp. nov. ex Sturnella neglecta Audubon (Icteridae) from Arizona. Additionally, S. passerinae (Clark, 1964) is redescribed based on the material from the type host species, Passerina cyanea (Linnaeus) (Cardinalidae). New host species for S. icteri Bochkov & Mironov, 2001 and S. passerinae are added. The world fauna of Syringophilopsis is summarized and keyed.