A Study on the Coccidia of Indian Birds

Thepresent paper is the third of a series of studies on the coccidia of Indian birds, and contains the description of six new species of these parasites, four of which belong to the genusIsospora, and one each to the generaDorisiellaandEimeria, All the parasites described here belong to the Order Coccidiida, Family Eimeriidae. New avian hosts for some already known species are recorded here. The life-history ofEimeria barbetaKar (1944) is described in detail. We also add here an amended description ofIsospora ginginianaChakravarty and Kar (1944b), and a new variety of the latter. The majority of the birds were purchased from local dealers, while some were collected from Gaya, Bihar. Of twenty-eight different species of birds examined, eighteen were parasitized. The table at the end of this paper will indicate the number of birds parasitized (21) out of the total number examined (48), together with the locality of the hosts. Some of the birds were also infected with other protozoan parasites (haemosporidians and flagellates), descriptions of which are being published elsewhere. The methods adopted here are the same as previously employed by the authors (Chakravarty and Kar, 1944aandb). Two species of birds, viz. the large Indian paroquetPsittacula eupatria nipalensis(Hodgs.) and the red-whiskered or Chinese bulbulElathea jocosa emeria(Linn.), harboured a newIsospora, which does not resemble any known species of this genus. It is therefore proposed to call itIsospora psittaculaen. sp. after one of its hosts.