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High prevalence and genetic diversity of Haemoproteus columbae (Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) in feral pigeons Columba livia in Cape Town, South Africa
Ist Teil von
Parasitology research (1987), 2020-02, Vol.119 (2), p.447-463
Ort / Verlag
Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erscheinungsjahr
2020
Quelle
MEDLINE
Beschreibungen/Notizen
In this study, we explore blood parasite prevalence, infection intensity, and co-infection levels in an urban population of feral pigeons
Columba livia
in Cape Town. We analyze the effect of blood parasites on host body condition and the association between melanin expression in the host’s plumage and parasite infection intensity and co-infection levels. Relating to the haemosporidian parasite itself, we study their genetic diversity by means of DNA barcoding (
cytochrome b
) and show the geographic and host distribution of related parasite lineages in pigeons worldwide. Blood from 195
C. livia
individuals was collected from April to June 2018. Morphometric measurements and plumage melanism were recorded from every captured bird. Haemosporidian prevalence and infection intensity were determined by screening blood smears and parasite lineages by DNA sequencing. Prevalence of
Haemoproteus
spp. was high at 96.9%. The body condition of the hosts was negatively associated with infection intensity. However, infection intensity was unrelated to plumage melanism. The
cytochrome b
sequences revealed the presence of four
Haemoproteus
lineages in our population of pigeons, which show high levels of co-occurrence within individual birds. Three lineages (HAECOL1, COLIV03, COQUI05) belong to
Haemoproteus columbae
and differ only by 0.1% to 0.8% in the
cytochrome b
gene. Another lineage (COLIV06) differs by 8.3% from the latter ones and is not linked to a morphospecies, yet. No parasites of the genera
Leucocytozoon
and
Plasmodium
were detected.