Observations on the Haemoproteus of Pigeons 
in Honolulu, Hawaii 
L. Kartman 1 
During the PERIOD January to July, 1948, 
observations were made at different times on 
the halteridium parasite of the pigeon, Haemo- 
proteus columbae Kruse, 1890. Inasmuch as 
very little information has been published on 
the Haemosporidia of birds in Hawaii, these 
notes are presented with a view toward open- 
ing anew the question of blood protozoa of 
birds in the Territory, a problem which has 
never been systematically investigated. Fisher 
(1948) has emphasized the paucity of evidence 
regarding these parasites in Hawaii. 
Alicata (1939, 1947) indicated that pigeons 
in Hawaii are commonly infected with Haemo- 
proteus columbae, and Bryan (1934) showed 
that the hippoboscid vector, Pseudolynchia 
canariensis ( Macq. ) , is generally distributed. 
No quantitative data are given in the above 
reports, however. The notes presented in this 
paper offer preliminary data on various aspects 
of the problem. 
Pigeons and doves were examined at the 
Honolulu Zoo. Observations on both juvenile 
and adult pigeons showed them to be generally 
infested with the fly vector. There was an 
average of 2.0 flies per bird on about 50 
juvenile pigeons examined and an average of 
1.3 flies per bird on 100 adult pigeons. Of 45 
doves examined none was found to harbor the 
pigeon fly, although the birds were housed in 
the vicinity of the pigeon lofts. This observa- 
tion is in conformity with the remarks of Be- 
quaert (1939), who indicated that Pseudolyn- 
1 Department of Parasitology, University of Hawaii 
Agricultural Experiment Station. Manuscript received 
July 30, 1948. 
chia canariensis has never been found on a wild 
host in North America. On the other hand, it 
has been taken from at least eight species of 
wild Columbidae belonging to five genera in 
Europe, Africa, and the Philippines. 
More consistent infestation was noted on 
juvenile pigeons which had attained full plum- 
age. Young birds between 15 and 25 days of 
age had the major infestation with flies where- 
as younger birds were less consistently infested. 
Many fly puparia were found in the pigeon 
nests and some of these were taken to the 
laboratory, placed in test tubes plugged with 
cotton, and kept at room temperature- Flies 
emerged from these pupae at from 15 to 20 
days after collection. Pupae observed from the 
time of deposition by the female fly hatched 
at between 23 and 37 days. 
Some of the pigeon flies collected at various 
times were dissected for evidence of infection 
with the pigeon Haemoproteus. Table 1 sum- 
marizes the data for dissections of 25 flies taken 
from both young and adult pigeons. A total of 
36 per cent of the flies was found to be in- 
fected; it is interesting to note that of 19 fe- 
males, 36.8 per cent were infected, and of 6 
males, 33.3 per cent. Although flies from 
several juvenile pigeons were not infected, 
others collected from young birds showed the 
infection, indicating that the fly is active in 
migrating from adults to young. 
Blood smears were taken from birds at the 
zoo to determine the incidence of infection 
with Haemoproteus columbae in pigeons and 
to learn whether local doves are naturally in- 
fected with the pigeon parasite. Although 
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