A new eimerian (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), from ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata (Agassiz) (Testudines: Emydidae) from northwest Arkansas, USA

Syst Parasitol. 2017 Feb;94(2):293-298. doi: 10.1007/s11230-016-9694-0. Epub 2017 Jan 27.

Abstract

A new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875 (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) collected from an ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata (Agassiz) from Arkansas, USA, is described. Oöcysts of Eimeria doddi n. sp. are ovoidal to ellipsoidal with a smooth, light to darker brown, bi-layered wall, measure 21.1 × 14.0 µm, and have a length/width (L/W) ratio of 1.5; both micropyle and oöcyst residuum are absent, but a polar granule is present. Sporocysts are ellipsoidal, 9.9 × 6.1 µm, L/W 1.6; the Stieda body is present, but the sub-Stieda and para-Stieda bodies are absent and the sporocyst residuum is composed of small granules in a cluster. Sporozoites have a spheroidal anterior refractile body, a subspheroidal posterior refractile body, and one centrally-located nucleus. This is the third description of an eimerian from the turtle genus Terrapene Merrem and the second from T. ornata. In addition, we report Eimeria ornata McAllister & Upton, 1989 from T. ornata from Texas.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arkansas
  • Eimeria / classification*
  • Eimeria / cytology
  • Oocysts / cytology
  • Species Specificity
  • Sporozoites / cytology
  • Turtles / parasitology*