Haemoparasites of falcons in France: a 2-year survey in the Cevennes, with description of two new Haemoproteid species from poly-parasitised birds

A survey of the haemoparasites present in the blood of falcons collected in three wildlife hospitals in France where wild raptors found wounded or sick are treated, and released, was conducted between June 2011 and August 2014. Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leucocytozoon were found. The Haemoproteus were the most frequent haematozoa present in the blood. Two new species of Haemoproteus ? Haemoproteus obainae n. sp. and Haemoproteus deharoi n. sp. ? in the blood of Falco subbuteo and F. tinnunculus, respectively, are described. In addition, two previously known species were observed and identified, according to their original description ? Haemoproteus brachiatus and Haemoproteus tinnunculi ? which were also observed in samples from Israel and used for comparison. The frequency of birds poly-parasitised by two or more species of Haemoproteus was high. Multiple infections by several species of haemoproteids in birds are often overlooked. They are responsible for errors of parasite identification and misinterpretations of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based results, i.e. sequence assignment to the corresponding species. The discussion deals with the taxonomy of the haemoproteids based on the morphology and biology and the complementary data (i.e. some bias) provided by the use of PCR-based methods. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FB26BDF1-67C1-40FB-874E-A63834CEC79D