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Molecular evidence of infection with air sac nematodes in the great tit (Parus major) and the captive-bred gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)

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Abstract

Serratospiculiasis is a parasitic disease caused by filariid nematodes of the genus Serratospiculum that parasitise the air sacs of various species of falcons, bald eagles and Cooper’s hawks around the world. An infection with Serratospiculum was recently confirmed in a nonspecific host, the great tit, in Slovakia. Parasitic material from this host was fixed for molecular analysis. Nematode found in the air sacs from a captive-bred gyrfalcon was also stored. Analysis of small subunit (18S) ribosomal DNA (18S rDNA) gene indicated that sequences from Serratospiculum sp. and Serratospiculoides amaculata were closely related to a reference sequence from Serratospiculum tendo, in agreement with morphology. This study is the first to generate molecular data and infer the phylogenetic position of S. amaculata as the first representative of the genus Serratospiculoides.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Johan Forsman from the Nad Al Shiba Falcon Hospital, Dubai, UAE, for his help with the collection of the worms. We are grateful to Silvia Spišáková for her technical assistance.

Funding

This study was supported by funds from the Slovak Research and Development Agency APVV 14-0169 and scientific grant agency VEGA 2/0120/16.

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Author notes

  1. Saskia Dolinská and Dávid Drutovič contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia

    Saskia Dolinská, Alžbeta Königová, Michaela Urda Dolinská & Marián Várady

  2. Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Liběchov, Czech Republic

    Dávid Drutovič

  3. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Patrik Mlynárčik

  4. Clinic for Birds and Exotic Animals, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Košice, Slovakia

    Ladislav Molnár

  5. Department of Epizootiology and Parasitology, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Košice, Slovakia

    Gabriela Štrkolcová

Authors
  1. Saskia Dolinská
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  2. Dávid Drutovič
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  3. Patrik Mlynárčik
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  4. Alžbeta Königová
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  5. Ladislav Molnár
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  6. Michaela Urda Dolinská
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  7. Gabriela Štrkolcová
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Correspondence to Marián Várady.

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Section Editor: Dr. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna

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Dolinská, S., Drutovič, D., Mlynárčik, P. et al. Molecular evidence of infection with air sac nematodes in the great tit (Parus major) and the captive-bred gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus). Parasitol Res 117, 3851–3856 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-6091-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-6091-4

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