title: The eyes have it: long-distance dispersal by an intraorbital leech parasite of birds.
abstract: A leech was found parasitizing the ocular orbit of a common redstart captured during a faunistic survey of Antikythira in the Aegean Sea during the spring migration of 2012. Morphological and molecular characterizations placed the leech in the mucous-membrane specific leech family Praobdellidae and definitively as the species Parapraobdella lineata. This is the first record of any leech parasitizing a passerine bird, Phoenicurus phoenicurus , and the first of a praobdellid leech on any avian host.
authors: Sackler Institute of Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024;
authors: Mark E
authors: ME
authors: Siddall
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Rood-Goldman
authors: Amalie
authors: A
authors: Barrio
authors: Christos
authors: C
authors: Barboutis
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000469:parasitology; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015822:Eye Infections, Parasitic / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D006115:Greece; D007865:Leeches / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal