THE ECTOPARASITES OF BRUSHTAIL POSSUM TRICHOSURUS-VULPECULA IN NEW-ZEALAND

The ectoparasites of the brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula were e xamined at 15 original release sites in New Zealand. Three species of fur mite-A tellana papilio Domrow, 1958, Petrogalochirus dycei (Domrow , 1960), and Murichirus anabiotus Domrow, 1992-were present in all pop ulation 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 Marsupiopu s 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 poss ums and absent only from Kawau Island. Nymphs and larvae of the cattle tick Haemaphysalis longicornis were isolated from four (33%) of the 1 2 Northland pelts. The loss of ectoparasitic mites resulting from the transfer of possums from their native Australia to New Zealand has bee n 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.