Haemoproteosis and avian malaria in Columbidae and Corvidae from Iran

Avian malaria (Plasmodium) and related genera (Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon) are diverse and widespread parasites. Despite the extent of knowledge on avian haemosporidian parasites, information about domestic and wild bird's blood parasites is overall insufficient in Iran. Prevalence of the haemosporidian parasites’ and phylogenetic relationship of lineages are studied by using molecular and morphological results of 152 examined hosts belonging to 17 species. Molecular analysis for haemosporidian detections demonstrated overall prevalence 22.36%. Inspected hosts mostly belonging to Common Pigeons (Columba livia) parasitized by Haemoproteus spp., and Hooded Crows (Corvus cornix) and Carrion Crow (C. corone) were identified as hosting Plasmodium spp. Detected lineages COLIV03, COQUI05, LINN01, ROFI04 and SGS01 are identified as new reports from Iran. We detected no evidence of Leucocytozoon lineages, while the high prevalence of H. columbae was found in Common Pigeons. Such investigation on avian blood parasites contributes to providing new information on the prevalence, epidemiology and geographical distribution of haemosporidian parasites circulating in domestic, pets and wild birds.