Avian trypanosomes are cosmopolitan and common protozoan parasites of birds; nevertheless, knowledge of their life cycles and vectors remains incomplete. Mosquitoes have been confirmed as vectors of Trypanosoma culicavium and suggested as vectors of T. thomasbancrofti; however, transmission has been experimentally confirmed only for the former species. This study aims to confirm the experimental transmission of T. thomasbancrofti to birds and its localization in vectors. Culex pipiens were fed on blood using four strains of T. thomasbancrofti, isolated from vectors and avian hosts; all strains established infections, and three of them were able to develop high infection rates in mosquitoes. The infection rate of the culicine isolates was 5-28% for CUL15 and 48-81% for CUL98, 67-92% for isolate OF19 from hippoboscid fly, while the avian isolate PAS343 ranged between 48% and 92%, and heavy infections were detected in 90% of positive females. Contrary to T. culicavium, trypanosomes were localized in the hindgut, where they formed rosettes with the occurrence of free epimastigotes in the hindgut and midgut during late infections. Parasites occurred in urine droplets produced during mosquito prediuresis. Transmission to birds was achieved by the ingestion of mosquito guts containing trypanosomes and via the conjunctiva. Bird infection was proven by blood cultivation and xenodiagnosis; mature infections were present in the dissected guts of 24-26% of mosquitoes fed on infected birds. The prevalence of T. thomasbancrofti in vectors in nature and in avian populations is discussed in this paper. This study confirms the vectorial capacity of culicine mosquitoes for T. thomasbancrofti, a trypanosome related to T. avium, and suggests that prediuresis might be an effective mode of trypanosome transmission.

• Keywords
• Culex, Trypanosoma thomasbancrofti, avian parasite, life cycle, mosquito, prediuresis, transmission,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The list of all known locality and host records from the literature on louse flies from Slovakia are summarized, with the addition of new collection data. New locality data are provided for five species. Three species are added to the Slovakian list: Icostaminor (Bigot in Thomson, 1858), which was erroneously cited for Moravia instead of Slovakia in the previous checklist, and Ornithophilametallica (Schiner, 1864) and Ornithomyachloropus (Bergroth, 1901), which were overlooked from the last checklist. As a result, the louse fly fauna of Slovakia increases to 19 species: 12 autochtonous species and seven rare, non-native species only occasionally imported to Slovakia or migrating to the country with their hosts. This is by far the largest regional fauna of Hippoboscidae in Central Europe, and matches the richest southern European faunas. In total, 78 host-parasite associations concerning 46 bird-host species from eight orders and nine species of mammals, including humans, have been found from a literature review in Slovakia. Two host-parasite associations are reported from Slovakia for the first time: Ornithomyaavicularia (Linnaeus, 1758) on Prunellamodularis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Aves: Prunellidae) and Lipoptenafortisetosa Maa, 1965 on Homosapiens Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Hominidae).

• Keywords
• Faunistics, literature review, louse flies, parasite-host associations,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH