Abstract
This is the first report of the digenetic trematode Paratanaisia bragai infestation in a ruddy ground dove Columbina talpacoti, captured in a suburban area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although with a low prevalence (10%), the intensity of infection was high, considering that 116 worms were recovered from one of the kidneys. Gross lesions were not observed and histopathological analysis showed very dilated renal collecting ducts with destruction and flattening of the lining epithelial cells, without inflammatory reaction. The pathological findings were compared to those previously reported for P. bragai in other hosts, since the proposal of the species in 1934.
Highlights
This paper reports the first occurrence and pathology of the digenean Paratanaisia bragai (Santos, 1934) Freitas, 1959, in the kidneys of Columbina talpacoti
Helminths were present only in the kidneys of one specimen of Columbina talpacoti, out of the 10 euthanised and 116 worms were recovered from one of the kidneys, 1.5cm long, 0.6cm wide and identified to the digenean Paratanaisia bragai (Santos, 1934) Freitas, 1959, on the basis of specific morphological characters (Fig. 1)
Described as Tamerlania bragai by Santos (1934), included in the genus Tanaisia Skrjabin, 1924 by Freitas (1951) and further reconsidered as Paratanaisia bragai, its actual and accepted nomination, by Freitas (1959) that erected the genus Paratanaisia, with P. bragai as the type, the species is frequently referred in avian pathology surveys; the morphology and life cycle of this digenean have been exhaustively described to add new data on morphometrics and mainly on intermediate hosts, that are terrestrial snails of the species Subulina octona Bruguière, 1789 and Leptinaria unilamellata Orbigny, 1835 (Stunkard, 1945; Silva and Mattos-Júnior, 1990; Arnizaut et al, 1992; Keller and Araújo, 1992)
Summary
The ruddy ground dove, Columbina talpacoti Temminck, 1811 is commonly distributed from the southeastern of Mexico, to Meridional Cisandine America ( accidentally in Chile), from the Guyanas to the north of Argentina (including the Tucumán and Buenos Aires provinces), east of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay (rarely) and Brazil (all the States), except for occasional reports of its presence in the surroundings of these prevailing areas (Pinto, 1978; Sick, 2001).This bird has often been investigated for ecto and endoparasites, since the species is adapted either to wild or urban environmental conditions, commonly sharing food with sparrows and pigeons in the cities, in residential areas and mainly in the vicinities of pet shops, where captive exotic birds and small rodents are maintained for sale; with the possibility of acting as reservoirs and carriers of pathogenic agents mainly to Galliformes hosts from backyard flocks or other avian hosts of economic importance, specimens of C. talpacoti are referred in surveys of acari ( Arzua and BarrosBattesti, 1999; Price et al, 1999) protozoa (Adriano et al, 2000; Adriano and Cordeiro, 2001 ) viruses (Ferreira et al.; 1994; Pereira et al, 2001) and helminths, that are the main target of this investigation.Records of worms parasitizing the ruddy ground dove are few and only from Brazil, except for the description of the intestinal trichostrongyloid nematode Ornithostrongylus cristatus DuretteDesset & Vaucher, 2001, from Paraguay (Durette-Desset and Vaucher, 2001).The helminths recovered from this host refer to the nematodes Ascaridia magalhaesi Travassos, 1913, Ornithostrongylus magalhaesi Travassos, 1941 from the intestine (Vicente et al, 1995) and the digeneans Brachylaemus (Mazzantia) mazzantii (Travassos, 1927) Travassos & Kohn, 1964, from the intestine and Tanaisia magnicolica Freitas, 1951 from the kidney (Queiróz, 1966; Travassos et al, 1969).This paper reports the first occurrence and pathology of the digenean Paratanaisia bragai (Santos, 1934) Freitas, 1959, in the kidneys of Columbina talpacoti. The ruddy ground dove, Columbina talpacoti Temminck, 1811 is commonly distributed from the southeastern of Mexico, to Meridional Cisandine America ( accidentally in Chile), from the Guyanas to the north of Argentina (including the Tucumán and Buenos Aires provinces), east of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay (rarely) and Brazil (all the States), except for occasional reports of its presence in the surroundings of these prevailing areas (Pinto, 1978; Sick, 2001).
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