Insights on the taxonomy of Haemoproteus parasites infecting cracid birds

Baseline study of the morphological and genetic characteristics of Haemoproteus parasites in wild pigeons (Columba livia) from paddy fields in Thailand

“…Genetic differentiation of H. columbae cannot distinguish morphological characters among the different haplotypes. Although previous studies hypothesized that >5% genetic dissimilarity in the cytb gene is indicative with different morphospecies ( Hellgren et al, 2007 ), later studies have shown that this might not be a reliable criterion to differentiate morphospecies of avian haemosporidians ( de Freitas et al, 2023 ; Palinauskas et al, 2015 ). This genetic difference was similar to H. columbae reported in urban pigeons in South Africa ( Nebel et al, 2020 ).…”