Prevalence and diversity of avian haematozoa in three species of Australian passerine

Abstract

Avian haematozoa, or blood parasites, are extremely widespread and taxonomically diverse. They are known to infect a large number of avian species, making them ideal models for studying host—parasite interactions. Little is known about the prevalence or diversity of avian haematozoa in Australia because there have been fewer studies conducted in the southern hemisphere than the northern hemisphere. Here we assess the prevalence and diversity of avian haematozoa in three endemic Australian passerines using microscopy and molecular techniques. We identified four lineages of Haemoproteus infection among 32 individuals (of 1005 screened) and no Plasmodium infection. The four lineages clustered in three monophyletic groups within the larger Parahaemoproteus group, with 0.2–5.9% sequence divergence among these lineages. Three of the four lineages detected in this study are previously unreported and this is the first record of haematozoan infection in these species of passerine. This study provides valuable baseline data on the prevalence and diversity of haematozoan lineages in a poorly sampled region.