Haemosporidian parasite infections of Malagasy Philepittidae and Nectariniidae are driven by phylogeny rather than ecology

Abstract

The nectarivorous common sunbird asity (Neodrepanis coruscans) is phylogenetically closely related to the frugivorous velvet asity (Philepitta castanea), yet it shares similar habitat and foraging behaviour as the Malagasy sunbirds (Cinnyris spp.). As ecological factors have been shown to influence blood parasite prevalence, it should be tested whether parasite abundance, prevalence and diversity of N. coruscans are more similar to the sunbirds than to its relative. Therefore, blood samples (n = 156) and smears (n = 60) were tested for different blood parasites (Haemosporida, trypanosomes, filarioid nematodes) using molecular and microscopic methods. High prevalence of haemosporidian parasites was observed in all bird taxa, with rates ranging from 23% in N. coruscans to 84.6% in C. notatus. The Malagasy Cinnyris spp. exhibited a high occurrence of mixed haemosporidian infections (>76%) with various specialized lineages. Within the Philepittidae family, no Haemoproteus infection was detected and just a few cases of mixed infections. Nectariniidae species predominantly had specialized haemosporidian lineages, while Philepittidae had infections mainly caused by generalist lineages. These findings emphasize the diverse range of blood parasites in Nectariniidae, while additionally highlighting the high diversity of trypanosomes and filarioid nematodes in Philepittidae. Additionally, several newly discovered haemosporidian lineages, Trypanosoma isolates and filarioid nematode isolates were identified. Notably, Philepittidae exhibited a lower prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasites compared to Nectariniidae, possibly due to potential resistance mechanisms. Despite N. coruscans sharing similar habitat and behavioural ecology with both Cinnyris spp., it closely resembles its relative, P. castanea, in all aspects of haemosporidian parasitism.

Raising the bar: genus-specific nested PCR improves detection and lineage identification of avian haemosporidian parasites

“…It was only complemented by the utilization of multiplex PCRs ( Pacheco et al., 2018b ; Ciloglu et al., 2019 ) in some studies (e.g. Musa et al., 2022 ; Barbon et al., 2023 ; Procházka et al., 2023 ) due to its limitation in detecting mixed infections of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus . However, those assays have failed to ensure a definitive identification at the parasite’s lineage level.…”

Special issue: avian malaria

“…Hannah Barbon and co-authors present a study of haemosporidian infections in a family of birdsthe Asities (Philepittidae)that are native to Madagascar (Barbon et al, 2023). The Asities represent a single radiation, with 4 extant species in 2 genera, that feed on fruit (Philepitta spp.)…”