New Haemoproteus parasite of parrots, with remarks on the virulence of haemoproteids in naive avian hosts.

Valkiūnas, Gediminas; Pendl, Helene; Olias, Philipp Alexander (2017). New Haemoproteus parasite of parrots, with remarks on the virulence of haemoproteids in naive avian hosts. Acta tropica, 176, pp. 256-262. Elsevier 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.08.004

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Haemoproteus infections can cause fatal disease in parrots (Psittaciformes), one of the most endangered groups of birds. The great diversity of parrots in tropical and subtropical ecosystems has been markedly understudied in terms of their parasite diversity. Only two psittacine Haemoproteus species have been described. Here we report a new Haemoproteus parasite, H. (Parahaemoproteus) homohandai n. sp. (lineage hARCHL01) found in erythrocytes of a Red-and-green macaw Ara chloropterus. We morphologically and genetically characterize the parasite based on a segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, which can be used for identification and diagnosis of infection. This is the first Haemoproteus species described from South American parrots and the first genetically characterized psittacine Haemoproteus sp. Haemoproteus homohandai n. sp. can be readily distinguished from other haemoproteids by its growing circumnuclear and close to circumnuclear macrogametocytes, which are strictly associated with erythrocyte nuclei, but do not touch the erythrocyte envelope along their entire margin and do not fill erythrocytes up to their poles. Illustrations of growing and mature gametocytes of the new species are given, and a phylogenetic analysis identifies the position of this parasite lineage in relation to other Haemoproteus parasites. Importantly, H. homohandai n. sp. and all other Haemoproteus lineages reported from parrots cluster with species of the subgenus Parahaemoproteus, indicating the transmission by Culicoides biting midges.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Host-Pathogen Interaction
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Animal Pathology
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP)

UniBE Contributor:

Olias, Philipp Alexander

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0001-706X

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pamela Schumacher

Date Deposited:

08 May 2018 16:14

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:11

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.08.004

PubMed ID:

28784421

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Ara chloropterus Blood parasites Haemoproteus Molecular characterization New species Parrots

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.112389

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/112389

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