Espécies de coccídios em Thraupidae (Aves: Passeriformes) do Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, RJ: morfologia e taxonomia

Abstract

Coccidia are obligate intracellular parasites, classified in Subphylum Apicomplexa and order Eucoccidiorida, which has different stages in their life cycles. In Passeriformes, the coccidian species of Isospora Schneider, 1881 are the most common, being the family Thraupidae one of the major families, with 12 host species described. The aim of this study was to identify, characterize and quantify the coccidian parasites of Thraupidae in the Itatiaia National Park. Isospora ramphoceli Berto, Flausino, Luz, Ferreira, Lopes, 2010 was identified in ruby-crowned tanagers Tachyphonus coronatus (Vieillot, 1822), which became a new host, and the Itatiaia National Park a new location for this coccidian species. The intensity of infection in different hosts were high, which can be justified by frugivorous feeding habits that favoring the feco-oral transmission of coccidia and by the positive hosts inhabit in disturbed areas susciptible to the effects of forest edge. The oocysts were characterized as uniform in T. coronatus and morphologically and morphometrically similar to the original description in Ramphocelus bresilius dorsalis Sclater, 1855 on the island of Marambaia, RJ. The specificity of I. ramphoceli occurred at the family level, because T. coronatus and R. b. dorsalis are included in the Thraupidae family.