| avian haemosporidians from neotropical highlands: evidence from morphological and molecular data. | avian haemosporidian parasites have been scarcely studied in the neotropical highlands despite the high avian diversity reported and the uniqueness of these ecosystems. the aims of this study were to examine haemoproteus and plasmodium diversity based on morphological and molecular data, as well as to explore the concordance between these two approaches, when identifying species. we sampled 1487 birds belonging to 166 species, in localities of the colombian andean region at elevations ranging fr ... | 2015 | 25638289 |
| detection and prevalence of haemoproteus archilochus (haemosporida, haemoproteidae) in two species of california hummingbirds. | haemosporidian blood parasites are transmitted to a wide range of avian hosts via blood-sucking dipteran vectors. microscopy has revealed an impressive diversity of avian haemosporidia with more than 250 species described. moreover, pcr and subsequent sequence analyses have suggested a much greater diversity of haemosporidia than morphological analyses alone. given the importance of these parasites, very few studies have focused on the charismatic hummingbirds. to date, three haemoproteus specie ... | 2017 | 28534106 |
| parasite specialization in a unique habitat: hummingbirds as reservoirs of generalist blood parasites of andean birds. | understanding how parasites fill their ecological niches requires information on the processes involved in the colonization and exploitation of unique host species. switching to hosts with atypical attributes may favour generalists broadening their niches or may promote specialization and parasite diversification as the consequence. we analysed which blood parasites have successfully colonized hummingbirds, and how they have evolved to exploit such a unique habitat. we specifically asked (i) whe ... | 2016 | 27177277 |