HAEMATOZOA IN BIRDS FROM LA MACARENA NATIONAL NATURAL PARK (COLOMBIA)

• Main Authors: BASTO NATALIA, RODRÍGUEZ OSCAR A., MARINKELLE CORNELIS J., GUTIÉRREZ RAFAEL, MATTA NUBIA E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2006-12-01
• Series: Caldasia
• Online Access: http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/cal/article/view/39294

<div>Birds from 69 species in 25 families were collected from La Macarena National</div><div>Natural Park in Colombia between June and November 2000 and examined for</div><div>haematozoa. Eighty-two of the 342 birds (24%) were positive for one or more taxon.</div><div>Microfilariae were the most commonly seen parasites (10.5%) and Leucocytozoon</div><div>the least common (0.3%). Other parasites were species of the genera Plasmodium</div><div>(4.4%), Trypanosoma (3.5%), Hepatozoon (3.5%) and Haemoproteus (3.2%).</div><div>The low intensity of haemosporidian parasites agreed with other records from the</div><div>Neotropics. Parasite prevalence in this Neotropical region was higher than levels</div><div>found in other surveys in the Neotropics, but lower than levels found for the Nearctic</div><div>area. A new host-parasite association is reported here, as well as avian species</div><div>examined for haematozoa for the first time.</div>