SREL Reprint #2245

Hematozoa in the endangered wood stork from Georgia

Alan M. Fedynich1, A. Lawrence Bryan, Jr.2, and Michael J. Harris3

1Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville,
Campus Box 218, Kingsville, Texas 78363, USA
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
3Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program,
One Conservation Way, Brunswick, Georgia, USA

Abstract: Thin blood smears of 75 wood storks (Mycteria americana) from Georgia (USA) were made during the summers of 1994-96 and examined for blood parasites. Haemoproteus crumenium was found in one of 71 juveniles and in two adults from a sample of two subadults and two adults. Intensity of infection in the juvenile and in each of the two adults was 11, 3, and 2 parasites/5,000 erythrocytes, respectively. This is the first record of H. crumenium in the wood stork from Georgia and the second published record of H. crumenium infecting this host in North America. Additionally, one juvenile was infected with a microfilarid.

Keywords: Endangered species, Haemoproteus crumenium, haemoproteid, hematozoa, Mycteria americana, survey, wood stork

SREL Reprint #2245

Fedynich, A.M., A.L.J. Bryan, and M.T. Harris. 1998. Hematozoa in the endangered wood stork from Georgia. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 34:165-167.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).