Table 1.
Number and prevalence (%) of Sarcocystis spp. and other Sarcocystidae identified by BLASTn analysis of 28S PCR-positive intestinal samples from dead predatory and omnivorous birds collected in California, USA between 2016 and 2020. The parasite species was matched by BLASTn to the closest reference sequence available in GenBank. Bird species include American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), northern goshawk (A. gentilis), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis), and sharp-shinned hawk (A. striatus).
| Number positive (Prevalence %) |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predatory species | n | Sarcocystis spp. (28S PCR) | S. calchasi | S. columbae | S. halieti | S. turdusi | S. jamaicensis | S. jamaicensis/S. (Frenkelia) microti | Eumonospora henryae |
| Cooper's hawk | 16 | 8 (50.0) | 3 (18.8) | 4 (25.0) | 1 (6.3) | 2 (12.5) | – | – | – |
| Great horned owl | 12 | 1 (8.3) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Northern goshawk | 2 | 2 (100) | – | 2 (100) | – | 1 (50.0) | – | – | – |
| Peregrine falcon | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Red-shouldered hawk | 12 | 8 (66.7) | – | – | 1 (8.3) | – | 6 (50.0) | 1 (8.3) | – |
| Red-tailed hawk | 36 | 25 (69.4) | 2 (5.6) | 1 (2.8) | 2 (5.6) | 1 (50.0) | 12 (33.3) | 7 (19.4) | 1 (2.8) |
| Sharp-shinned hawk | 4 | 2 (50.0) | – | – | – | 2 (5.6) | – | – | – |
| Total | 85 | 46 (54.1) | 5 (5.9) | 7 (8.2) | 4 (4.7) | 6 (7.1) | 18 (21.2) | 8 (9.4) | 1 (1.2) |
| Omnivorous species |
n |
Sarcocystis spp. (28S PCR) |
S. calchasi |
S. columbae |
S. halieti |
S. turdusi |
S. jamaicensis |
S. jamaicensis/S. (Frenkelia) microti |
Eumonospora henryae |
| American crow | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |