Presence of one ecto- and two endoparasite species of the black stork (Ciconia nigra) in Portugal

Abstract

Background The black stork (Ciconia nigra Linnaeus, 1758) is a recognized endangered species in Europe and most of the specimens from the Western Palearctic region breed in the Iberian Peninsula. Available works regarding parasites in black storks are scarce. This work reports the presence one ecto- and two endoparasite species from a black stork in Portugal. Case presentation A black stork was found in southern Portugal after colliding against electric cables. The specimen did not survive its sustained injuries and a post-mortem exam was performed. During the procedure, several ecto- and endoparasite specimens were found. The collected parasites were lice (Neophilopterus tricolor), nematodes (Desportesius sagittatus) and trematodes (Cathaemasia hians). Conclusions Three different species of parasites are reported from a black stork in Portugal. Ecto- and endoparasites of C. nigra have not frequently been described in the literature, and this case report is a contribution to the field. Additional studies will be important to better understand the impact that parasites can have on C. nigra health and survival.

First record of Cathaemasia hians (Trematoda: Cathaemasiidae) in a new bird host, the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)

“…This obligate trematode species is well-known for infecting birds of the family Ciconiidae (e.g. Merino et al , 2001 ; Liptovszky et al , 2012 ; Ramilo et al , 2021 ). Black storks Ciconia nigra and white storks C. ciconia were the only confirmed bird species infected with C. hians and infections of other species have not been reported until now.…”

“…Infections of C. hians in storks were reported from Hungary ( Liptovszky et al , 2012 ), Spain ( Merino et al , 2001 ), Portugal ( Ramilo et al , 2021 ), Germany ( Schuster et al , 2002 ) and Czech Republic ( Sitko & Heneberg, 2015 ). In Slovakia, the juvenile stages of C. hians were found in an oesophagus and cuticle layer of ventriculus of six black storks and 20 white storks ( Macko, 1960 ).…”

“…Genomic DNA was isolated from 20 mg of the parasites tissue using the QIAamp® DNA Kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) following the manufacturer's instructions, diluted in deionized water and stored at −20 °C. The molecular genotyping was based on the partial sequences of the large subunit of the ribosomal RNA gene (lsrDNA) using universal primer pairs originally described by Olson et al (2003). For PCR amplification, the forward primer LSU-5 (5'-TAGGTCGACCCGCTGAAYTTAAGCA-3') and the reverse primer 1500R (5'-GCTATCCTGAGGGAAACTTCG-3'), were used.…”

“…Sequencing was performed using automatic genetic analyser Applied Biosystems 3130xl (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, California, USA) and BigDye Terminator v3.1 Cycle sequencing kit (Applied Biosystems). Sequencing was performed from both directions using PCR primers and three internal primers: 300F (5'-CAA-GTACCGTGAGGGAAAGTTG-3'), 400R (5'-GCAGCTTGACT-ACACCCG-3'), and (5'-CCGTCTTGAAACACGGACCAAG-3') (Olson et al, 2003). Contiguous sequences were assembled and inspected for errors using the Geneious software (version 10.0.5, Biomatters, Auckland, New Zealand).…”