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Haemosporidian infections in the Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus) and potential insect vectors of their transmission

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Abstract

Sedentary bird species are suitable model hosts for identifying potential vectors of avian blood parasites. We studied haemosporidian infections in the Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus) in the Ore Mountains of the Czech Republic using molecular detection methods. Sex of owl nestlings was scored using molecular sexing based on fragment analysis of PCR-amplified CHD1 introns. Observed infection prevalences in nestlings and adult owls were 51 and 86 %, respectively. Five parasite lineages were detected. Most of the infections comprised the Leucocytozoon AEFUN02 and STOCC06 lineages that probably refer to distinct Leucocytozoon species. Other lineages were detected only sporadically. Mixed infections were found in 49 % of samples. The main factor affecting the probability of infection was host age. No effect of individual sex on infection probability was evidenced. The youngest infected nestling was 12 days old. High parasite prevalence in the Tengmalm’s Owl nestlings suggests that insect vectors must enter nest boxes to transmit parasites before fledging. Hence, we placed sticky insect traps into modified nest boxes, collected potential insect vectors, and examined them for the presence of haemosporidian parasites using molecular detection. We trapped 201 insects which were determined as biting midges from the Culicoides genus and two black fly species, Simulium (Nevermannia) vernum and Simulium (Eusimulium) angustipes. Six haemosporidian lineages were detected in the potential insect vectors, among which the Leucocytozoon lineage BT2 was common to the Tengmalm’s Owl and the trapped insects. However, we have not detected the most frequently encountered Tengmalm’s Owl Leucocytozoon lineages AEFUN02 and STOCC06 in insects.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA ČR), grant no. P506/10/0716, and the Internal Grant Agency of Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, grant no. SVV 260 208/2015. We acknowledge the help of our colleagues Václav Tomášek, Marek Kouba, Petra Menclová, and Jan Hanel in the field and thank Zdena Csiebreiová for her technical assistance in the laboratory.

Ethical standards

This study was performed under a certificate of competency according to §17 of Act No. 246/1992 Coll., on the protection of animals against cruelty (registration number CZU 945/05), and complies with the current law of the Czech Republic.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 00, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Petr Synek & Pavel Munclinger

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, UNIL Sorge, Biophore Building, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Darina Koubínová

  3. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 00, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Jan Votýpka

  4. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Alena Popelková & Karel Šťastný

  5. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Iva Langrová

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  1. Petr Synek
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  2. Alena Popelková
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  3. Darina Koubínová
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  4. Karel Šťastný
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  5. Iva Langrová
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  6. Jan Votýpka
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  7. Pavel Munclinger
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Correspondence to Pavel Munclinger.

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Synek, P., Popelková, A., Koubínová, D. et al. Haemosporidian infections in the Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus) and potential insect vectors of their transmission. Parasitol Res 115, 291–298 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4745-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4745-z

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