Multinucleated cysts near the luminal surface of the thoracic aortas of diseased knots (Calidris canutus) were similar to besnoitia cysts. Ultrastructurally, the cyst had four distinct layers. The central area included a vacuole that contained a sporozoan with a conoid, polar ring, micronemes, rhoptries, nucleus, mitochondria, dense bodies, a lipid-like vacuole and endoplasmic reticulum. External to the vacuole was a layer with organelles typical of vertebrate cells. The wall of the cyst was irregular in thickness and was bound by a strongly osmiophilic membrane. There was a loose, acellular area of intertwined strands between the cysts wall and layer of organelles.
Two species of Cyrnea are reported from 706 wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) from 25 localities in 9 southeastern states. Cyrnea (Cyrnea) neeli sp. n. in birds from Alabama and Florida is differentiated primarily by distal processes of the left spicule and spicule lengths. Specimens from wild turkeys previously reported as C. eurycerca are identified as C. coloni. The configuration of caudal papillae of C. colini is redescribed. Neither species occurred in birds from montainous regions, and C. neeli sp. n. was restricted to Florida and southern Alabama. Poults less than 1-month old were not infected. Infections peaked in early fall and then declined rapidly.
Plasmodium hermani was experimentally transmitted from domestic turkey poults (Meleagris gallopavo) to pen-reared bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and then from these bobwhites back to domestic turkey poults. Transmission was achieved by Culex nigripalpus both by bites of the mosquito and by intraperitoneal injection of sporozoites. All of the 23 bobwhites and the 13 turkeys exposed to sporozoites became infected. These results indicate that the bobwhite might be a reservoir host for this malaria of wild turkeys in nature.
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