''Colpocephalum californici'', the California condor louse, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of chewing louse which parasitized the California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus''). In an example of coextinction, it became extinct when the remaining,

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

California condors were deloused and treated with pesticides during a

captive breeding Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of keeping plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, Botanical garden, botanic gardens, and other Conservation biology, conservation facilitie ...

program.

Taxonomic history

This species was described in 1963 by Roger D. Price and James R. Beer. They based their description on nine lice (four females, five males), all collected from California condors. The holotype was collected from a California condor in the National Zoological Park, and it was deposited in the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

. The authors wrote in their description: "Since the California condor now is very rare, these nine lice may well represent all that will ever be found." Price and Beer placed the California condor louse in the ''megalops''- group alongside '' C. megalops'', '' C. foetens'' and '' C. trichosum''.

Description

Male

The male had two pairs of spine-like setae on the anterior margin of its head, as well as four to eight mid-dorsal head setae. The temple width was and its prothorax width was .

Female

The female had at most four mid-dorsal head setae. Its I and II abdominal segments were only a bit longer than its III segment. The lateral tergocentral setae on segments II and III were not longer than the median setae.

Biology

This louse was reportedly not harmful to its hosts.

Extinction

In the 1980s, all California condors were brought to the

Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a zoo founded in 1966 and located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The city of Los Angeles owns the zoo, its land and facilities, and the animals. History Eastlake Zoo, opened in Eastlak ...

and the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park for a

program. Conservationists treated all the condors with a pesticide to kill their lice, and so ''C. californici'' is now presumed extinct. This species' extinction is an instance of conservation-induced extinction. People were expressing concern about the loss of the California condor louse by the 1990s. One 1990 letter to the journal ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' began, "In the attempt to save certain species from extinction, for example the California condor, the black-footed ferret and so on, how much attention is being given to the natural parasites?" Another letter to ''Nature'' closed with "There may be conflicts in conservation needs, forcing us to bid farewell to the gorilla louse or the lice of the Californian condor while retaining their hosts. If so, we should do so in the full knowledge of what is being lost." The ''C. californici'' extinction is an often-discussed example when emphasizing the importance of parasite conservation both in academic works and elsewhere. One 2011 paper in the '' Annual Review of Entomology'' called this a "poignant example" of the loss of biodiversity, and noted that the role this species played in its host's ecology was not fully understood. It has also been pointed out that studying the genetics of ''C. californici'' could have provided information about the California condor's evolutionary history. Biologists have also wondered if the California condors remained parasite-free or if generalist parasites, which might cause worse health impacts, later replaced them.

References

{{bots, deny=Citation bot Insects described in 1963 Lice Ectoparasites Parasites of birds Extinct invertebrates since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities