DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzr0
title: The response of avian chewing lice (Psocodea: Phthiraptera) loads to early-1900s urbanization in the Western United States

description: Using a historical record of bird specimens, we examined the effect of
 historical urban environments on parasitic interactions by measuring the
 abundance of ectoparasites on two bird species: House Finch and Hairy
 Woodpecker. We counted adult chewing lice and their nits from museum study
 skins of these two species, which were collected in the western United
 States from 1900 to 1932. Our urbanness metric for each specimen’s
 collection site and year was extracted from the Built-Up Footprint Area
 dataset, which measures the area covered by human structures each decade.
 To count lice, we searched 104 House Finch and 56 Hairy Woodpecker study
 skins (hosts) from the UCLA Dickey Bird and Mammal Collection. Specimens
 were collected between 1905 and 1932 across the states of Washington,
 Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. We documented two louse
 species parasitizing House Finches (host n = 104) and four parasitizing
 Hairy Woodpeckers (host n = 56), as well as abundant nits which were not
 identified to species. Of the 104 House Finches, 32 (31%) hosted Brueelia
 thorini and 26 (25%) hosted Philopterus sp., including 11 (11%)
 which hosted both species. Of the 56 Hairy Woodpeckers, just 1 (2%) hosted
 Menacanthus sp., and this individual hosted 6 Menacanthus sp. and
 27 total lice. Additionally, 7 (13%) woodpeckers hosted Brueelia straminea
 s. lat., 4 (7%) hosted Picicola snodgrassi, and 11 hosted P. auritus s.
 lat.
description: # The response of avian chewing lice (Psocodea: Phthiraptera) loads to
 early-1900s urbanization in the Western United States Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzr0](10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzr0) ## Description of the
 data and file structure The data file .csv contains all the raw data
 associated with this study. Each row is a single museum specimen of one of
 two species, along with associated environmental data for that specimen
 and the number and species identity of ectoparasitic lice found on it. 
 ### Files and variables #### File: raw\_data\_KahnEtAl.csv
 **Description:** Raw data from the study, each row is a museum specimen
 ##### Variables * Record_number: Ordered number in study * host_age: AD =
 adult; JV = juvenile; IM = immature * host_species: species of bird *
 catalog_number: Catalog number in the UCLA Dickey Collection * bufa:
 Building Footprint Area historical urbanness value for the collection
 location and 5-year period * lon: Longitude (decimal degrees) * lat:
 Latitude (decimal degrees) * host_sex: sex of specimen, f = female; m =
 male * collection_date: collection date (m/d/y) * year: year of collection
 * b_thorini: Number adult lice of *Brueelia thorini* found *
 philopterus_sp: Number adult lice of *Philopterus* sp. found *
 b_straminea: Number adult lice of *Brueelia straminea* s. lat. found *
 p_snodgrassi: Number adult lice of *Picicola snodgrassi* found *
 p_auritus: Number adult lice of *Penenirmus* *auritus* s. lat. found *
 menacanthus_sp: Number adult lice of *Menacanthus* sp. found * total_lice:
 Total number of adult lice * nits: Total number of nits (not identified to
 species)