Hippoboscid flies in wild birds rescued at the Sorocaba Zoo

Studies

Zoos aquarium and wildlife rescue centers are excellent sources for studies on parasites identification and parasite-host interaction due to the great number and diversity of animals received.Sorocaba Zoo receives and rescues approximately 700 wild animals per year, mainly birds (62%), from Sorocaba Metropolitan Region, which covers 27 municipalities, reaching a total area of 11,611.34km 2 , that has an intense anthropogenic pressure on environment.

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Commonly, many animals arrive in poor health conditions and after proper treatment and quarantine period are released in nature.Although recommended by veterinarians and health authorities, the quarantine period is eventually neglected by some wildlifemaintaining institutions.This procedure must be respected to avoid parasite and other diseases transmission (Fraga et al., 2011).
The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence and identification of hippoboscid Corresponding author: rhftzoo@hotmail.comSubmitted: August 15, 2022.Accepted: July 6, 2023.flies in wild avian species.The hippoboscids were collected during triage examination of birds received or rescued at Sorocaba Zoo, São Paulo state, in Brazil.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
From January/2021 to June/2022, 597 birds were received and rescued at Sorocaba Zoo and 2.34% (14/597) had ectoparasites.The avian hosts were identified using external morphological characteristics, according to the Brazilian Committee of Ornithological Records (Pacheco et al., 2021).
Hippoboscid flies collected during clinical examinations were stored in 70° GL alcohol and sent to the Laboratory of Diagnostic Support in Parasitic Diseases of the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), in labeled vials, informing the scientific and common names of the hosts, place and date of collection.At the laboratory, the fly species identification was made by microscopic analysis of morphological characteristics, using the keys proposed by Graciolli and Carvalho (2003).

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In Brazil, hippoboscids are often found in Columbiformes, especially in domestic pigeons.
In this host species, parasitosis can cause irritation due to hematophagy, beside the possibility of hematozoan transmission, such as Haemoproteus columbae (Gredilha et al., 2008;Marcelino et al., 2009).In this study, parasitized birds were not evaluated for the presence of hematozoa.
In agreement with a previous study conducted in 155 birds of prey received in a rescue center in Minas Gerais, Brazil, the parasitism by Parasitism by Stilbometopa sp. may be common in species of Columbidae.According to Adriano and Cordeiro (2001) Stilbometopa sp. can be found in wild doves (Zenaida auriculata) with a prevalence of 13.8% (46/331).In this study, only one specimen of eared dove was examined, positive for this parasitism.
Studies of this nature contribute to the knowledge of the parasitic fauna of wild animals while they allow establishing the areas of occurrence and geographic distribution of ectoparasites.

CONCLUSION
Most of the birds received at the Sorocaba Zoo presented ectoparasites, demonstrating how important it is to search for these organisms during the physical examination and quarantine.