Attacks on the endangered Attwater's Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) by black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) infected with an avian blood parasite.
With fewer than 50 birds remaining in the wild, Attwater's Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) is critically endangered. Individuals of this species on the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado Co., TX, have been attacked in successive winters, 2005-2006, by the blood-feeding black fly Cnephia ornithophilia. Attwater's Prairie-Chicken is a previously unreported host for Cnephia ornithophilia. Molecular screening indicated that about 15% of 13 blood-fed flies sampled from captured Attwater's Prairie-Chickens carried a parasite of the genus Leucocytozoon that can cause a debilitating avian malaria-like disease. If blood feeding or transmission of the disease agent becomes a threat to the birds, particularly in years of lean food supply or harsh weather, management of Cnephia ornithophilia should be considered.
Adler
Peter H
PH
Department of Entomology, Soils and Plant Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0315, USA.
Roach
Donna
D
Reeves
Will K
WK
Flanagan
Joseph P
JP
Morrow
Michael E
ME
Toepfer
John E
JE
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000469:parasitology*; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016787:Haemosporida / Q000502:physiology*; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012843:Simuliidae / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology; D013781:Texas
D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D045303:Cytochromes b