High prevalence of haemosporidian parasites in Eurasian Jays

Abstract

Avian haemosporidians are vector-borne blood parasites, which infect a great variety of avian host species. The order Passeriformes has the highest average infection probability; nevertheless, some common species of this order have been rather poorly studied in terms of haemosporidian prevalence and diversity. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of haemosporidians in one of such species, the Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius (Corvidae), from a forest population in Hesse, Central Germany. All individuals were infected with at least one haemosporidian genus, i.e. an overall prevalence of 100%. The most common infection pattern was a mixed infection with Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon, whereas no Plasmodium infection was detected. Our results regarding lineage diversity combined with data from other studies indicate a rather pronounced host-specificity of Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon lineages infecting birds of the family Corvidae.