title: Description and molecular characterization of Haemoproteus macrovacuolatus n. sp. (Haemosporida, Haemoproteidae), a morphologically unique blood parasite of black-bellied whistling duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) from South America.
abstract: During a surveillance programme on avian influenza in wild birds in the east of Colombia, 42% of examined wild black-bellied whistling ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) were infected with undescribed Haemoproteus sp., which macrogametocytes possess one or several huge (2.5 μm in largest diameter) conspicuous roundish vacuoles, a unique character of avian haemoproteids. This parasite is named Haemoproteus (Parahaemoproteus) macrovacuolatus and described here using data on the morphology of its gametocytes, host cells and sequences of the complete mitochondrial genome and cytochrome b fragments. Illustrations of blood stages of the new species and DNA sequence information are provided. The phylogenetic analysis identified a closely related lineage C033, reported in South Asian ducks belonging to Dendrocygna. We also found that all Haemoproteus lineages from Passeriformes conformed a monophyletic group. Whereas we cannot exclude that this pattern could be an artefact of the limited taxonomic sampling in non-passeriform birds, thus this finding is worthy of attention. This study adds to our knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships among species of avian haemoproteids and describes a new haemoparasite in a non-passerine host.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá Carrera 30 No. 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia, nemattac@unal.edu.co.
authors.forename: Nubia E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Matta
authors.forename: M Andreína
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.forename: Ananias A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Escalante
authors.forename: Gediminas
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valkiūnas
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ayerbe-Quiñones
authors.forename: Luz Dary
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Acevedo-Cendales
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D003105:Colombia; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004372:Ducks / Q000469:parasitology*; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D016787:Haemosporida / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000469:parasitology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D045303:Cytochromes b