Haemosporidians in Iberian BluethroatsLuscinia svecica

Abstract

Haemosporidian infection (Plasmodium spp., Haemoproteus spp. and Leucocytozoon spp.) was analysed in 101 bluethroats Luscinia svecica captured in the Iberian Central Range during the 2007 and 2008 breeding seasons. Of them, 58.4% were infected with single infections of haemosporidians distributed between Plasmodium. spp. (42.9%), Haemoproteus spp. (30.3%) and Leucocytozoon spp. (14.3%). A smaller percentage harboured double infections (12.5%): in these double infections, three birds were found to be infected with Haemoproteus spp.-Haemoproteus spp., two with Haemoproteus spp.-Plasmodium spp. and two with Leucocytozoon spp.-Plasmodium spp. Twentyseven different mitochondrial DNA haplotypes of malaria parasites were found: a) eight belonging to Plasmodium spp., two of which (P-SGS1 and P-WW3) have previously been recorded in bluethroats in Sweden, and one which has been identified in this study for the first time (P-LSV10); b) thirteen belonging to Haemoproteus spp., four of which (WW2, EMSPO03, RW1 and ARW1) have previously been recorded in birds with migratory habits and nine which are described for the first time in this study (H-LSV01 — H-LSV09); and c) six haplotypes of Leucocytozoon spp., of which one (Leucocytozoon lBT2) has previously been recorded in bluethroats in Sweden and another is described for the first time in this study (L-LSV11). Our results show that body condition did not differ between infected and uninfected birds.