Webdesign: Vaidas Palinauskas
Avian malaria parasites Plasmodium and related haemosporidians (Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon) multiply as haploid clones in avian hosts and undergo a sexual phase in dipteral vectors. Although these parasites are more species diverse in the tropics, many have active transmission in temperate regions as far north as the Arctic polar circle. Molecular analyses have revealed that the global species diversity of avian malaria parasites and related haemosporidians is much higher than previously appreciated, perhaps counting thousands of species. Host shifts have been remarkably frequent, in evolutionary time demonstrated by phylogenetic analyses of hosts and parasites and, in ecological time evidenced by the documentation of identical lineages in multiple hosts. Speciation of these parasites may not only follow the traditional mode, i.e. speciation associated with host shifts, since significant diversification seem to take place also within unstructured host species, with the blackcap as a prime example.
New data are revealing complex multihost-multiparasite systems which are difficult to understand without good knowledge of the host range and geographical distribution of the parasite lineages. A database MalAvi* including >950 parasite lineages is now available for download from this webpage. This database provides easy access to where and in which host species these parasite lineages have been recorded and will be regularly updated. This webpage also offers pictures of parasites where lineages have been linked to scientific names.
*Bensch, S., Hellgren, O. & Pérez-Tris, J. 2009. MalAvi: A public database of malaria parasites and related haemosporidians in avian hosts based on mitochondrial cytochrome b lineages. Molecular Ecology Resources, 9: 1353-1358.