HAEMATOZOAN PARASITES OF MOURNING DOVES IN FLORIDA

A total of 918 mourning doves ( Zenaida macroura ) collected from six localities in Florida over a three year period (1973-1976) was examined for haematozoan infections. Three species of haematozoans were encountered: Haemoproteus maccallumi (92% prevalence), H. sacharovi (3% prevalence), and Leucocytozoon marchouxi (0.1% prevalence). No trypanosome or Plasmodium infections were found. Adult doves did not show sexually or seasonally-related differences in infection intensity. Immature doves, however, had parasitemias which showed cyclic seasonal fluctuations, but since these decreased with age, this seasonal fluctuation was interpreted to be due to changes in age composition of the population and not season itself. Doves from northern Florida showed significantly lower parasitemias than doves from the southern part of the state.