by Ignacio Crudele

The Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is naturally distributed from central Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay to the south of Brazil, and has been accidentally or intentionally liberated in urban and suburban areas of different countries around the world, becoming an introduced and invasive species in several areas outside its original distribution. It is the only psittacid species that does not nest in cavities but builds its own communal nests with twigs. In these nests, several arthropods are found, including hematophagous species that could act as pathogen reservoires. In his postdoctoral project, N. Crudele studies how the monk parakeet is affected by the presence of cimicid bugs in its nests. Cimicids are ectoparasites that feed on blood of mammals and birds and are generally specific in the use of their hosts. We study the specificity of cimicids in the choice of the monk parakeet as host, analyzing the morphology of the insect’s mouth parts, the preference for this psittacid and the parasite-host interaction.

Adult Monk Parakeet (I. Crudele).

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