Sunda zebra finch | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Estrildidae |
Genus: | Taeniopygia |
Species: | T. guttata |
Binomial name | |
Taeniopygia guttata (Vieillot, 1817) | |
The Sunda zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a species of bird in the family Estrildidae. It is found in the Lesser Sundas.
T. guttata sometimes serves as a model organism. Study of the immune response of T. guttata to parasites is informative for avians as a class. Its transcriptome responses to infection have been studied by Watson et al., 2017 and Scalf et al., 2019. [2] : 542 T. guttata is not known to have ever been infected with any Plasmodium . Valkiūnas et al., 2018 find T. guttata seems totally resistant to the malaria parasite that is most common among avians, Plasmodium relictum . [3]
Only male zebra finches sing. [4] Each finch has an individual song. [4] Between the ages of 25 and 90 days old, young zebra finches learn to sing by copying the songs of adults, and sometimes by copying the songs of other juveniles. [4]
Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of Plasmodium species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vertebrate host during a blood meal. Parasites grow within a vertebrate body tissue before entering the bloodstream to infect red blood cells. The ensuing destruction of host red blood cells can result in malaria. During this infection, some parasites are picked up by a blood-feeding insect, continuing the life cycle.
The Australian zebra finch is the most common estrildid finch of Central Australia. It ranges over most of the continent, avoiding only the cool humid south and some areas of the tropical far north. The bird has been introduced to Puerto Rico and Portugal. Due to the ease of keeping and breeding the zebra finch in captivity, it has become Australia's most widely studied bird; by 2010, it was the most studied captive model passerine species worldwide, by a considerable margin.
Giovanolaia is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium created by Corradetti et al. in 1963. The parasites within this subgenus infect birds.
Haemamoeba is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium — all of which are parasites. The subgenus was created in 1963 by created by Corradetti et al.. Species in this subgenus infect birds.
Huffia is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium - all of which are parasites. The subgenus was created in 1963 by Corradetti et al.. Species in this subgenus infect birds with malaria.
Novyella is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium - all of which are parasites. The subgenus was created in 1963 by Corradetti et al. Species in this subgenus infect birds. It unites the avian malaria parasites with small erythrocytic meronts and elongated gametocytes.
Plasmodium ashfordi is a species of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Papernaia.
Plasmodium relictum is a species in the genus Plasmodium, subgenus Haemamoeba.
Plasmodium mexicanum is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Paraplasmodium.
Avian malaria is a parasitic disease of birds, caused by parasite species belonging to the genera Plasmodium and Hemoproteus. The disease is transmitted by a dipteran vector including mosquitoes in the case of Plasmodium parasites and biting midges for Hemoproteus. The range of symptoms and effects of the parasite on its bird hosts is very wide, from asymptomatic cases to drastic population declines due to the disease, as is the case of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. The diversity of parasites is large, as it is estimated that there are approximately as many parasites as there are species of hosts. As research on human malaria parasites became difficult, Dr. Ross studied avian malaria parasites. Co-speciation and host switching events have contributed to the broad range of hosts that these parasites can infect, causing avian malaria to be a widespread global disease, found everywhere except Antarctica.
The ʻapapane is a small, crimson species of Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. They are the most abundant and widely distributed honeycreeper and are found on the islands of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Lānaʻi, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi and Oʻahu.
The London Underground mosquito, Culex pipiens f. molestus, is a form of mosquito which assaulted people sleeping in the London Underground railway system during the Blitz. It has a worldwide distribution and long predates the existence of the London Underground. It was first described in the 18th century based on Egyptian specimens by the biologist Peter Forsskål (1732–1763). He named it Culex molestus due to its voracious biting, but later biologists reclassified it as Culex pipiens f. molestus because there were no morphological differences between it and Culex pipiens.
Plasmodium buteonis is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Giovannolaia.
Plasmodium tejerai is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Haemamoeba.
Conspecific song preference is the ability songbirds require to distinguish conspecific song from heterospecific song in order for females to choose an appropriate mate, and for juvenile males to choose an appropriate song tutor during vocal learning. Researchers studying the swamp sparrow have demonstrated that young birds are born with this ability, because juvenile males raised in acoustic isolation and tutored with artificial recordings choose to learn only songs that contain their own species' syllables. Studies conducted at later life stages indicate that conspecific song preference is further refined and strengthened throughout development as a function of social experience. The selective response properties of neurons in the songbird auditory pathway has been proposed as the mechanism responsible for both the innate and acquired components of this preference.
Papernaia is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium, all of which are parasitic protozoa. The subgenus was created in 2010 by Landau et al. It may be synonymous with Novyella.
Coquillettidia (Coquillettidia) crassipes is a species complex of zoophilic mosquito belonging to the genus Coquillettidia.
Anopheles arabiensis is a zoophilic species of mosquito and a vector of disease endemic to Africa.
The zebra finches are two species of estrildid finch in the genus Taeniopygia found in Australia and Indonesia. They are seed-eaters that travel in large flocks.