Eimeria raichoi, Matsubayashi & Tsuchida & Kobayashi & Shibahara & Nakamura & Murata & Ushida, 2018

Matsubayashi, Makoto, Tsuchida, Sayaka, Kobayashi, Atsushi, Shibahara, Tomoyuki, Nakamura, Hiroshi, Murata, Koichi & Ushida, Kazunari, 2018, Molecular identification of two Eimeria species, E. uekii and E. raichoi as type B, in wild Japanese rock ptarmigans, Lagopus muta japonica, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 7 (3), pp. 243-250 : 245-248

E. raichoi n. sp. ( Fig. 5 )

Host: Japanese rock ptarmigans ( Lagopus muta japonica ).

Locality: Hida Mountains of the Northern Japanese Alps and Akaishi Mountains of the Southern Japanese Alps, Japan.

Prevalence: Seasonally variable.

Other hosts: Unknown.

Prepatent period: Unknown.

Patent period: Unknown.

Site of infection: Unknown.

Sporulation time: 24–48 h.

Mi, micropyle; OR, oocyst residuum; PG, polar granules; SB, stieda body; RB, refractile body; SR, sporocyst residuum; ST, sporulation time. Sizes are in μm.

0.05

Note: Representative purified oocysts from infected birds have been deposited as syntype in the Meguro Parasitological Museum (4-1-1 Shimomeguro, Meguro, Tokyo 153–006, Japan; accession numbers MPM Col. 21449-a) .

In histopathological examinations, all organs were severely degraded after death. However, we could observe some parasites in the small and large intestines of two chicks (Nos. a and b), namely, the duodenum (+and +), jejunum (+++ and +), ileum (+++ and + ++), and cecum (+++ and +++), respectively. There were no parasites in the stomach and colon. The parasites were mainly gamete, zygote, or oocysts and a few schizonts ( Fig. 6 ) and were estimated as E. uekii and type B based on the morphologies of ellipsoidal and subspherical shapes, respectively. However, we could not determine the species and the infected location, such as epithelium cells or lamina propria, or the cause of death.

Figures

Fig. 5. Composite line drawing of oocyst of Eimeria raichoi n. sp (previously referred as type B). Scale bars indicate 10 μm.

Fig. 6. Histopathologic sections of ceca which were obtained from dead chicks infected with Eimeria spp. Arrowhead indicates macrogametocytes with a prominent wall-forming body (A), and arrows indicate zygotes or early oocysts, which are surrounded by an oocyst wall (A and B). Pathological lesions could not be observed because of severe degradation after death. Scale bars indicate 20 μm.