57-61

Mohammad et al.

Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus.
(2001) 9 (3): 57-61

HAEMATOZO`A OF THE AVIAN FAMILY PHASIANIDAE IN IRAQ

Mohammad K. Mohammad Mohammad K. Jasim Azhar A. Al- Moussawi

Iraq Natural History Museum-University of Baghdad, Bab Al-Muadham,
P.O.Box 59037 Baghdad, Iraq

ABSTRACT

A collection of 118 specimens of Iraqi phasianid birds belong to four species was examined
for haematozoa. Results show that 21.2% of them were infected with one or more of four
species of blood parasites; Haemoproteus danilewskyi, H. santosdiasi, Plasmodium sp. and
microfilaria. Haemoproteus danilewskyi is reported here for the first time in Iraq.

INTRODUCTION
Members of the avian family Phasianidae are widely distributed throughout Iraq. This
family includes five wild species, black partridge of two subspecies, Francolinus francolinus
arabistanicus Zarudny and Harms in the middle and south and F.f. francolinus Zarudny and
Harms in the north; seesee partridge Ammoperdix griseogularis (Brandt) in the north, middle
and west; rock partridge Alectoris graeca (Meisner) in the north, west and east; quail
Coturnix coturnix (L.) which is a spring and autumn visitor throughout Iraq; and snowcock
Tetraogallus caspius (Gmelin, 1784) in the extreme heights of the north east mountains.
These species constitute the major game birds and are subject to severe hunting almost during
the whole course of the year.
Surprisingly, although their helminths are rather well studied (Sawada and Mohammad,
1989; Mohammad, 1990, 1996; Mahmoud et al., 2000) their haematozoa are poorly studied
and fragmented among few works, including only Shamsuddin and Mohammad (1981),
Mohammad (1990,1991,1996).
The aim of this work is to investigate the haematozoa among four species of Iraqi
Phasianids with regard to their incidence, prevalence and some biological pertinent notes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 118 phasianid birds were collected either by shooting or capturing at different
localities in the north, middle, and south of Iraq during the period between January 1999 and
June 2002. Thin blood films were taken immediately from the brachial vein of the bird or
sometimes heart, air-dried, fixed in absolute methanol or ethanol, stained with Giemsa’s
solution at strength of 1:10 at pH 7-7.2 for one hour. The morphometric parameters of both
parasites and host cells were determined following the methods of Bennett and Campbell
(1972) as modified by Forrester et al. (1977) and Mohammad (1991). Drawings were made
with aid of camera lucida.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 summarizes the results on the incidence of blood parasites among the specimens
studies in this work. This would show that 25(21.2%) phasianid birds were infected with one
or more species of Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and microfilaria. Two species of
Haemoproteus were found to infect both seesee partridge and rock partridge. These are H.
santosdiasi Son and H. danilewskyi Kruse. Infection with haemoproteids represents 18.6% of

Haematozoa of Phasianidae

the total sample . This is generally in accordance with Bennet et al. ( 1982 ) who found that
44out of 185species of Phasianidae examined internationally were infected with
Haemoproteus spp. Reporting of H. danilewskyi (fig.1) constitutes the first record for Iraq
while H. santosdiasi was reported by Shamsuddin and Mohammad (1981) from the same
host, the seesee partridge.

Table 1: Parasite species and infection rates in four Iraqi phasianid hosts.
Bird species No.

exam
Hp.
inf.

% P.
inf.

% mf.
inf.

% Total
inf.

Ammoperdix
griseogularis

42 13 30.9 1 2.4 - - 14 33.3

Alectoris graeca 47 6 12.8 - - - - 6 12.8
Francolinus
francolinus

23 - - - - 4 17.4 4 17.4

Coturnix coturnix 6 - - - - 1 16.7 1 16.7
Total 118 19 16.1 1 0.8 5 4.2 25 21.2

Hp.= Haemoproteus, P.=Plasmodium, mf.= microfilaria.

Infection rate of H. santosdiasi of this study in seesee partridge seems lower than that
reported by Shamsuddin and Mohammad (1981) which represents 75%. This may be
explained by that their material comes from one site, Badra in the eastern frontiers which
contains a wide network of irrigation canals and heavy cultivation that support the vector/s
potentiality, while the source of this bird in this study is Western Desert District, the eastern
foothills of Diyala province and Attariya about 45 km southeast of Baghdad city. Another
reason may be added that the number of their examined birds is only four while it is 42 in this
study which may represents more accurate infection rate.
Infection with Plasmodium sp. constitutes 0.8% of the total sample. This is not surprising
since infection rates with this parasite were the lowest in Shamsuddin and Mohammad (1981)
and Mohammad (1991) who studies the haematozoa of Iraqi wild birds. Specific identity of
this parasite could not be determined since only one specimen of seesee partridge was
infected with a very low parasitemia of immature stages mainly.
Infection with microfilaria seems very low compared with the results of Shamsuddin and
Mohammad (1981) and Mohammad (1991). This may reflect the fact that the studied birds
prefer more arid terrestrial habitats than those examined by the above-mentioned author.
However, identification of microfilariae in the examined birds of this study to the specific
level practically impossible in view of absence of adult forms. The blood inhabiting
microfilariae represent only larval stages of nematodes.
Absence of Leucocytozoon infection is surprising since this parasite ranks third of the total
infection in many studies in Iraq and abroad (McClure et al., 1978; Shamsuddin and
Mohammad, 1981; Bennett et al., 1982; Mohammad, 1991). Bennitt et al., (1994) in their
review of the valid avian species of Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon and Hepatozoon
considered six species of Leucocytozoon in the family Phasianidae. This result is rather hard
to explain in view of the present data and needs more investigations.

LITERATURE CITED

Bennett, G.F. and Campbell, A.G. 1972 Avian Haeomproteidae. 1. Description of
Haemoproteus fallisi n. sp. and a review of the haemoproteids of the family
Turdidae. Can. J. Zool., 50:1143-1147.

Mohammad et al.

Bennett, G.F., Peirce, M.A. and Earle, R.A. 1994 An annotated checklist of the valid avian
species of Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon (Apicomplexa: Haemoporida) and

Hepatozoon (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae). Systematic Parasit., 29:61-73.

Bennett, G.F., Whiteway, M. and Woodworth-Lynas, C.B. 1982 Host-parasite catalogue of

the avian haematozoa. Memorial University of Newfoundland, Occasional
papers in biology, No. 5,243 pp.

Forrester, D.J., Greiner, E.C., Bennett, G.F. and Kigaye, M.K. 1977 Avian Haemoproteidae.

7. A review of the haemoproteids of the family Ciconiidae (storks) and
descriptions of Haemoproteus brodkorbi sp. nov. and H. peircei sp. nov. Can.
J. Zool., 55: 1268-1274.

McClure, H. E., Poonswad, P., Greiner, E. C. and Laird, M. 1978 Haematozoa in the birds of

Eastern and Southern Asia. International Reference Center for avian
Haematozoa, Memorial University of Newfoundland Press, 296 pp.

Mohammad, M. K. 1990 Helminth parasites of the black partridge Francolinus francolinus

arabistanicus in Baghdad area, Iraq. Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus., 8(3): 155-165.

Mohammad, M. K. 1991 Blood parasites of some Iraqi wild birds. Iraqi J. Sci., 31:31-39.

Mohammad, M. K. 1996 Intestinal helminth parasites of the rock partridge Alectoris graeca

in Qa’ra area, west of Iraq. Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus., 8(4): 89-101.

Mahmoud, S. S., Mohammad, M. K. and Ali, S. Y. 2000 Histopathological effects of

Hartertia gallinarum on the rock partridge Alectoris graeca in Qa’ra region,
west of Iraq. Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus., 9(2): 41-50.

Sawada, I. and Mohammad, M. K. 1989 On some avian cestodes collected in Iraq. Bull. Nara

Sangyo Univ., 5: 179-186.

Shamsuddin, M. and Mohammad, M. K. 1981 Haematozoa of some Iraqi birds with

description of two new species Haemoproteus pteroclis and Leucocytozoon
nycticoraxi (Protozoa: Haemosporina). Bull. Nat. Hist. Res. Centre, 7(4): 111-
154.

Haematozoa of Phasianidae

Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus.
(2001) 9 (3): 57-61

طفيليات الدم في طيور العائلة الدجاجية في العراق
محمد كاظم محمد و محمد كاظم جاسم و أزهار أحمد الموسوي

العراق - بغداد- باب المعظم -جامعة بغداد - متحف التاريخ الطبيعي

الخالصة
ت أظهـر . منوذجـاً مـن الطيـور الدجاجيـة تعـود ألربعـة أنـواع ١١٨فحصت جموعة مؤلفـة مـن

كانـت مصـابة بواحـد او اكثـر مـن طفيليـات الـدم األربعـة الـيت شخصـت يف % ٢١,٢النتائج بـان
.ألول مرة من العراق Haemoproteus danilewskyiوقد سجل الطفيلي . هذه الدراسة

Mohammad et al.