The identities of chlamydial strains, which can infect a given host, are important to know for disease prognosis, disease control, and epidemiology. The microimmunofluorescence test (MIFT) was used with a panel of 14 serovar-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to serotype 150 chlamydial isolates from domestic and wild birds. The isolates were obtained from birds submitted to diagnostic labora...

Background and Aims: Influenza A virus infects birds and some mammalian including human. H1 and H3 subtypes are circulated in both human and birds’ population. To determine the prevalence of the mentioned subtypes in birds, different captive bird species in Tehran zoo, and affiliated centers in Tehran were investigated for virus infection. Methods: In this study, Between November 2008 and...

Many phylogenetic studies have used nuclear introns or coding exons, but few have included untranslated regions (UTRs). Here we compare the phylogenetic utility and patterns of molecular evolution for 3'-UTRs and introns from five unlinked loci in Galliformes (Aves). 3'-UTRs evolved at slower rates and exhibited greater spatial clustering of sites with similar evolutionary rates than associated...

Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered at risk at national level and two are globally endangered. Therefore, it is imperative that high quality, comprehensive, and high-resolution spatial data on the occurrence of these taxa...

The Galliformes are one of the most threatened of avian orders; more than 25% of their species are considered at risk of extinction compared with 11% of all birds. Direct exploitation is believed to be the main reason for this substantially higher level of endangerment. Using additional and recently collected locality data from east Asian protected areas, analysis here revises an earlier study ...

Vent sexing of one-day-old chicks in commercial hatcheries has long been common practice and can be highly accurate. However, there are circumstances when this technique is not applicable such as smaller breeds, non-domestic birds, or where is the necessity of precise sexing. In this study we present a simple and reliable method for fast gender determination in selected Galliformes for which ph...

Analyses of the available avian genomes revealed the presence of a second TCRδ locus in the Galliformes. This second TCRδ locus is nonsyntenic to the conventional TCRα/δ and is unusual in that the V genes are more related to IgH V genes (VH) than to TCR V genes. The second TCRδ is not found in another avian lineage, the passerine zebra finch. Rather the finch's conventional TCRα/δ locus contain...

The 284 species of Galliformes are a highly threatened group of birds subject to direct exploitation for food, sport and cultural practices. The impact of hunting is often assumed to contribute to the high percentage of species (26.4%) listed as threatened with extinction in the IUCN Red List. We take a macroecological approach to examine the anthropogenic and ecological correlates of extinctio...

Studies were conducted to determine the host-feeding preference of Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) in relation to the availability of human and domestic animals in the city of Merida, Yucatan State, Mexico. Mosquitoes were collected in the backyards of houses using resting wooden boxes. Collections were made five times per week from January to December 2005. DNA was extracted fr...