Diversity of Haemoproteus spp. in birds of the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais State, Brazil: Morphology, Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Computational Delimiting Species Analyses
Avian malaria, Atlantic Forest, cyt b, haemosporidians, wild birds
Haemosporids of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus are microeukaryotes (Alveolata, Apicomplexa) obligate intracellular parasites of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles, with wide geographic distribution. The Haemoproteidae family includes the genus Haemoproteus Kruse, 1890, which have a wide geographic distribution and are transmitted by blood-sucking dipterous insects. They are observed parasitizing birds in different regions of the world and cause several biological changes in their hosts. In terms of diversity, today we have approximately 150 described species of Haemoproteus. In the present study, 21 birds of the species Thamnophilus caerulescens captured in fragments of the Atlantic Forest were examined. Our results describe a new species of Haemoproteus using different approaches. This is the first time that a species of Haemoproteus is described in this bird species. In addition, four birds of the species Penelope obscura bronzina were analyzed, which showed a prevalence of 100% of Haemoproteus sp. As a result, our study presents two new strains of Haemoproteus (Parahaemoproteus) sp. and new molecular and morphological data of Haemoproteus sp. in Cracids of the Atlantic Forest. This study also highlights the importance of integrative taxonomy for the characterization of the group, given the complexity of the life cycle of these parasites and the increase in the number of lineages, without characterization at the specific level, in the databases, which can result in an underestimation of the number of species or their overestimation. These aproaches are also essential to work on issues such as the preservation of avian species, given the influence of these organisms in bird ecology.