A highly invasive malaria parasite has expanded its range to non-migratory birds in North America

Parasite range expansions are a direct consequence of globalization and are an increasing threat to biodiversity. Here we report a recent range expansion of the SGS1 strain of a highly invasive parasite, Plasmodium relictum, to two non-migratory passerines in North America. Plasmodium relictum is considered one of the world’s most invasive parasites and causes the disease avian malaria: this is the first reported case of SGS1 in wild birds of Western North America and wild non-migratory birds on the continent. Using a long-term database where researchers report avian malaria parasite infections, we summarized our current understanding of the geographic range of SGS1 and its known hosts. We also identified the most likely geographic region of this introduction event using the MSP1 allele. We hypothesize that this introduction resulted from movements of captive birds and subsequent spillover to native bird populations, via ecological fitting. Further work should be conducted to determine ...寄生虫分布范围扩张是全球化的直接后果，且正对生物多样性构成日益严峻的威胁。本研究报道了高入侵性寄生虫——禽疟原虫（Plasmodium relictum）的SGS1菌株近期发生的分布范围扩张，其新发现的宿主为北美地区的两种非迁徙性雀形目鸟类。禽疟原虫被公认为全球入侵性最强的寄生虫之一，可引发禽疟疾；本研究首次在北美西部的野生鸟类以及北美大陆的野生非迁徙性鸟类中报道了SGS1菌株的感染病例。本研究依托研究者上报禽疟原虫感染情况的长期监测数据库，梳理了当前学界对SGS1菌株地理分布及其已知宿主的认知。此外，本研究通过MSP1等位基因（MSP1 allele）确定了此次引种事件最可能发生的地理区域。我们推测，此次引种事件源于笼养鸟类的跨区域转运，并通过生态适配机制将病原体最终溢出至本土鸟类种群。后续仍需开展进一步研究以明确……