BackgroundPiroplasmosis are among the most relevant diseases of domestic animals. Babesia is emerging as cause of tick-borne zoonosis worldwide and free-living animals are reservoir hosts of several zoonotic Babesia species. We investigated the epidemiology of Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. in wild ungulates and carnivores from Northern Italy to determine which of these apicomplexan species circulate in wildlife and their prevalence of infection.MethodsPCR amplification of the V4 hyper-variable region of the 18S rDNA of Babesia sp./Theileria sp was carried out on spleen samples of 1036 wild animals: Roe deer Capreolus capreolus (n = 462), Red deer Cervus elaphus (n = 52), Alpine Chamois Rupicapra rupicapra (n = 36), Fallow deer Dama dama (n = 17), Wild boar Sus scrofa (n = 257), Red fox Vulpes vulpes (n = 205) and Wolf Canis lupus (n = 7). Selected positive samples were sequenced to determine the species of amplified Babesia/Theileria DNA.ResultsBabesia/Theileria DNA was found with a mean prevalence of 9.94% (IC95% 8.27-11.91). The only piroplasms found in carnivores was Theileria annae, which was detected in two foxes (0.98%; IC95% 0.27-3.49). Red deer showed the highest prevalence of infection (44.23%; IC95% 31.6-57.66), followed by Alpine chamois (22.22%; IC95% 11.71-38.08), Roe deer (12.55%; IC95% 9.84-15.89), and Wild boar (4.67%; IC95% 2.69-7.98). Genetic analysis identified Babesia capreoli as the most prevalent piroplasmid found in Alpine chamois, Roe deer and Red deer, followed by Babesia bigemina (found in Roe deer, Red deer and Wild boar), and the zoonotic Babesia venatorum (formerly Babesia sp. EU1) isolated from 2 Roe deer. Piroplasmids of the genus Theileria were identified in Wild boar and Red deer.ConclusionsThe present study offers novel insights into the role of wildlife in Babesia/Theileria epidemiology, as well as relevant information on genetic variability of piroplasmids infecting wild ungulates and carnivores.

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Reproductive performance is one of the most important life‐history traits that should be routinely studied and considered in adaptive wildlife management. In the case of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), a species with delayed implantation, which complicates studies on fetuses, corpora lutea (CL) counting is the only alternative for routine monitoring. However, because of a possible implantation failure, the reliability of this method is questionable, and factors influencing implantation success have been poorly understood so far. We analyzed 2,594 intact uteri of roe deer hunted from 2006–2015 in an Apennine population, central Italy, during winter (mid‐Jan to mid‐Mar). By comparing the number of CL and fetuses in the same individuals (i.e., success in blastocyst implantation), we revealed a mean implantation failure of 8.6% in a pooled sample set (regardless of the age and origin of animals), with a high inter‐annual variability (range = 3.6–19.8%). Contrary to adults (truex¯ ± SE = 11.1 ± 1.9%), the implantation failure in yearlings was low (4.4 ± 1.9%). Implantation success was affected by individual maternal characteristics (positive effect of body mass and negative effect of age), climatic condition in summer (positive effect of July temperature up to 23.4°C, and negative effect above this threshold), winter harshness (negative effect of snow cover duration), and altitude (negative relation with the elevation). Reproductive performance of adult female roe deer cannot be adequately measured by CL counts because of high inter‐annual variability in implantation failure and important effects of female attributes and environmental factors. However, for yearlings, which also express the highest variability in the ovulation rates, CL counts provide important information on their reproductive outcome because they have low implantation failure. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

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Organisms differ in the strategy adopted to fuel reproduction by using resources either previously acquired and stored in body reserves (capital breeding) or, conversely, acquired during their reproductive activity (income breeding). The choice of one or the other strategy is related to several internal and external factors which are counteractive in wild boar. Based on a large dataset of culled wild boar, we investigated individual body weight variability throughout the period of 1st September–31st January, which included the main part of the mating season, among different sex and age classes to determine their position along the capital-income breeding continuum. Though food resources were abundant during the rut, adult males lost body weight suggesting they adopted a predominantly capital breeding strategy, likely owing to the high intra-sexual competition entailed by the peculiar mating system of the species. On the contrary, subadult males seemed to behave as income breeders, likely enhancing the reproductive flexibility of wild boar populations. During the rut, females stored reserves, thus suggesting that they substantially relied on them to cover future reproductive costs.