No abstract

Diseases can play a role in species decline. Among them, haemosporidian parasites, vector-transmitted protozoan parasites, are known to constitute a risk for different avian species. However, the magnitude of haemosporidian infection in wild columbiform birds, including strongly decreasing European turtle doves, is largely unknown. We examined the prevalence and diversity of haemosporidian parasites Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon and subgenera Haemoproteus and Parahaemoproteus in six species of the order Columbiformes during breeding season and migration by applying nested PCR, one-step multiplex PCR assay and microscopy. We detected infections in 109 of the 259 screened individuals (42%), including 15 distinct haemosporidian mitochondrial cytochrome b lineages, representing five H. (Haemoproteus), two H. (Parahaemoproteus), five Leucocytozoon and three Plasmodium lineages. Five of these lineages have never been described before. We discriminated between single and mixed infections and determined host species-specific prevalence for each parasite genus. Observed differences among sampled host species are discussed with reference to behavioural characteristics, including nesting and migration strategy. Our results support previous suggestions that migratory birds have a higher prevalence and diversity of blood parasites than resident or short-distance migratory species. A phylogenetic reconstruction provided evidence for H. (Haemoproteus) as well as H. (Parahaemoproteus) infections in columbiform birds. Based on microscopic examination, we quantified parasitemia, indicating the probability of negative effects on the host. This study provides a large-scale baseline description of haemosporidian infections of wild birds belonging to the order Columbiformes sampled in the northern hemisphere. The results enable the monitoring of future changes in parasite transmission areas, distribution and diversity associated with global change, posing a potential risk for declining avian species as the European turtle dove.

The Mediterranean Basin represents a Global Biodiversity Hotspot where many organisms show high inter-and intraspecific differentiation. Extant phylogeographic patterns of terrestrial circum-Mediterranean faunas were mainly shaped through Pleistocene range shifts and range fragmentations due to retreat into different glacial refugia. Thus, several extant Mediterranean bird species have diversified by surviving glaciations in different hospitable refugia and subsequently expanded their distribution ranges during the Holocene. Such a scenario was also suggested for the Eurasian Wren (Nannus troglodytes) despite the lack of genetic data for most Mediterranean subspecies. Our phylogenetic multi-locus analysis comprised 18 out of 28 currently accepted subspecies of N. troglodytes, including all but one subspecies which are present in the Mediterranean Basin. The resulting phylogenetic reconstruction dated the onset of the entire Holarctic radiation of three Nannus species to the early Pleistocene. In the Eurasian Wren, two North African subspecies represented separate basal lineages from the Maghreb (N. t. kabylorum) and from the Libyan Cyrenaica (N. t. juniperi), being only distantly related to other Mediterranean populations. Although N. troglodytes appeared to be paraphyletic with respect to the Nearctic Winter Wren (N. hiemalis), respective nodes did not receive strong statistical support. In contrast, paraphyly of the Ibero-Maghrebian taxon N. t. kabylorum was strongly supported. Southern Iberian populations of N. t. kabylorum did not clade with Maghrebian populations of the same subspecies but formed a sister clade to a highly diverse European clade (including nominate N. t. troglodytes and eight further taxa). In accordance with a pattern also found in other birds, Eurasian

We confirmed the first breeding record of the native Asian yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) in the Western Palearctic by genetic barcoding and morphometric analysis. In 2012 three small herons had been captured in Wadi Lahami at the western Red Sea coast of Egypt and these individuals had been tentatively determined as yellow bitterns. From blood samples of these birds we amplified and sequenced the barcoding marker (cytochrome-oxidase) and cytochrome-b and used sequences from own samples and further data inferred from GenBank for comparison. All three Egyptian specimens in question formed a monophyletic clade with sequences of I. sinensis and these were well separated from the sister species I. minutus in both phylogenetic reconstructions (p-distance, cytochrome-b: 9.6 %). A discriminant analysis based on six body-size parameters confirmed the assignment of these Egyptian specimens to I. sinensis. Along with this documentation we discuss phylogenetic relationships within Botaurinae and biogeographic aspects.

The Old World sparrows include some of the best-studied passerine species, such as the cosmopolitan human commensal, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) as well as poorly studied narrow-range endemics like the Iago sparrow (P. iagoensis) from the Cape Verde Archipelago or specialists from extreme environments like the desert sparrow (P. simplex). It is therefore notable that to date the most complete phylogenetic hypothesis for the Old World sparrows comprised only ten of 43 currently accepted species. With this study we provide an updated phylogeny of Passeridae covering about two third of the family’s species richness. Though still being far from taxon-complete, this new phylogenetic hypothesis provides firm evidence to clarify some open taxonomic questions. All genus-level taxa were reciprocally monophyletic with strong support. Contrary to previous classifications, bush sparrows and rock sparrows were not sister taxa, and therefore their classification in separate genera Gymnoris and Petronia is justified. Plumage color traits like the yellow throat patch of the latter two genera or head color pattern in Passer species do not provide reliable phylogenetic information, except for the large-sized African grey-headed sparrows that resulted as a monophyletic group (P. diffusus, P. griseus, P. gongoensis). Unexpectedly, two small-sized species, P. eminibey and P. luteus that to date are regarded as close relatives were firmly nested in two separate clades of Passer sparrows. Therefore, their separate generic treatment under Sorella eminibey and Auripasser luteus (together with A. euchlorus) does not seem justified.