Aims:  To determine the presence of antibiotic‐resistant faecal Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. in feral pigeons (Columba livia forma domestica) in the Czech Republic. Methods and Results:  Cloacal swabs of feral pigeons collected in the city of Brno in 2006 were cultivated for antibiotic‐resistant E. coli. Resistance genes, class 1 and 2 integrons, and gene cassettes were detected in resistant isolates by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The samples were also cultivated for enterococci. Species status of enterococci isolates was determined using repetitive extragenic palindromic‐PCR. Resistance genes were detected in resistant enterococci by PCR. E. coli isolates were found in 203 of 247 pigeon samples. Antibiotic resistance was recorded in three (1·5%, nE. coli = 203) isolates. Using agar containing ciprofloxacin, 12 (5%, nsamples = 247) E. coli strains resistant to ciprofloxacin were isolated. No ESBL‐producing E. coli isolates were detected. A total of 143 enterococci were isolated: Ent. faecalis (36 isolates), Ent. faecium (27), Ent. durans (19), Ent. hirae (17), Ent. mundtii (17), Ent. gallinarum (12), Ent. casseliflavus (12) and Ent. columbae (3). Resistance to one to four antibiotics was detected in 45 (31%) isolates. Resistances were determined by tetK, tetL, tetM, tetO, aac(6′)aph(2′′), ant(4′)‐Ia, aph(3′)‐IIIa, ermB, pbp5, vanA and vanC1 genes. Conclusions:  Antibiotic‐resistant E. coli and Enterococcus spp. occurred in feral pigeons in various prevalences. Significance and Impact of the Study:  Feral pigeon should be considered a risk species for spreading in the environment antimicrobial resistant E. coli and enterococci.

Lactobacillus apis sp. nov., from the stomach of honeybees (Apis mellifera), having an in vitro inhibitory effect on the causative agents of American and European foulbrood At the present time, the bacterial genus Lactobacillus comprises more than 100 species and subspecies (Hammes & Hertel, 2009) and represents a large group of Grampositive bacteria within the phylum Firmicutes. Lactobacilli are well known as the main representatives of the lactic acid bacteria that occur in various carbohydrate-rich environments such as plant-derived materials, products of the dairy industry, the reproductive tract of women and the digestive tracts of mammals and insects (Hammes & Hertel, 2009;Forsgren et al., 2010). Lactobacilli are important members of healthy gastrointestinal tracts of animals, and some of them are used frequently as probiotics because of their beneficial influences on mammalian and human health (Zubillaga et al., 2001).It is supposed that lactobacilli, other lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria have a beneficial effect on honeybee health. For this reason, attempts to describe the occurrence of these bacteria in the digestive tract of these important pollinators have increased in recent years (Olofsson & Vásquez, 2008). Novel species of lactobacilli have been detected from the digestive tract of Apis mellifera and ApisThe GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA, atpA, hsp60, pheS, rpoA and tuf gene sequences of strain R4B T are KF386017, JQ363701, JQ363676, JQ363685, JQ363694 and JQ363711, respectively. The accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain R4C is KF386018.

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A total of 151 bacterial isolates were recovered from different developmental stages (larvae, nymphs and adults) of field-collected ticks (67 strains from Ixodes ricinus, 38 from Dermacentor reticulatus, 46 from Haemaphysalis concinna). Microorganisms were identified by means of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Almost 87 % of the strains belonged to G(+) bacteria with predominantly occurring genera Bacillus and Paenibacillus. Other G(+) strains included Arthrobacter, Corynebacterium, Frigoribacterium, Kocuria, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Plantibacter, Rhodococcus, Rothia, and Staphylococcus. G(-) strains occurred less frequently, comprising genera Advenella, Pseudomonas, Rahnella, Stenotrophomonas, and Xanthomonas. Several strains of medical importance were found, namely Advenella incenata, Corynebacterium aurimucosum, Microbacterium oxydans, M. schleiferi, Staphylococcus spp., and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Data on cultivable microbial diversity in Eurasian tick species D. reticulatus and H. concinna are given, along with the extension of present knowledge concerning bacterial flora of I. ricinus.

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