Eimeria furnessi, Tokiwa & Chou & Kitazoe & Ito & Torimoto & Shoshi & Sanjoba & Yamamoto & Yoshimura, 2022

Tokiwa, Toshihiro, Chou, Shyun, Kitazoe, Hina, Ito, Keiko, Torimoto, Ryouta, Shoshi, Yuki, Sanjoba, Chizu, Yamamoto, Masami & Yoshimura, Hisashi, 2022, Three new species of Eimeria (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the Amami rabbit, Pentalagus furnessi (Mammalia: Leporidae), International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 18, pp. 194-200 : 197-198

3.2. Eimeria furnessi n. sp. ( Figs. 3 and 6a )

3.2.1. Description

Oocyst shape: ellipsoidal; number of walls: 2; wall thickness: 1.1 (0.9–15); wall characteristics: outer is rough, yellowish, finely granular, irregular thickness, and detached readily and/or can be removed, inner is smooth and transparent; L × W: 26.0 × 16.6 (22.9–30.3 × 14.9–18.5); L/W ratio: 1.6 (1.3–1.7); M: present; M characteristics: present in the outer layer of the wall, 4.0 (3.2–5.7) wide; OR and PG: both absent.

Sporocyst shape: elongate-ovoidal; L × W: 13.1 × 6.3 (12.0–13.7 × 5.1–7.4); L/W ratio: 2.1 (1.8–2.4); SB: present; SB characteristics: knoblike; SSB and PSB: both absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: a compact mass of large granules or a few scattered granules between SZ; SZ: elongate-ovoidal and lies head-to-tail with one large RB at the wider end.

3.2.2. Taxonomic summary

Type host: Mammalia ( Lagomorpha : Leporidae ), P. furnessi (Stone, 1900) , Amami rabbit.

Other hosts: None to date.

Type locality: Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima Islands, Kagoshima, Japan .

Site of infection: Unknown. Oocysts were recovered from feces and intestinal contents.

Sporulation: Exogenous. The exact hours were unknown, but oocysts became fully sporulated within 5 days at 23–26 ◦ C.

Prevalence: 58.3% (21/36, 95% CI 42.2–72.9%) of the type host.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Materials deposited: Photosyntype ( Bandoni and Duszynski, 1988) of sporulated oocysts was deposited in the Meguro Parasitological Museum, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan, under MPM Coll. No. 21857.

ZooBank LSID: The ZooBank LSID is 6E429959-1DB0-41ED-AD8B-703423E0A3FE.

Etymology: Specific epithet “ furnessi ” is adopted from the name of Dr. William Henry Furness III (1866–1920), one of the discoverers of the Amami rabbit; it is given as a noun in the genitive case, in accordance to the Article 31.1. of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1999).

Remarks: Sporulated oocysts of E. furnessi resemble, in shape, size, and the presence of two walls and micropyle, those of Eimeria

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matsubayashii [24.8 × 18.3 (22–30 × 14–22)], recorded from Oryctolagus cuniculus ( Tsunoda, 1952) , and those of Eimeria neoirresidua [25.7 × 17.9 (19–31 x 15–20)] ( Duszynski and Marquardt, 1969) and Eimeria poudrei [26.0 × 18.1 (20–31 × 15–21)] ( Duszynski and Marquardt, 1969), detected from Sylvilagus audubonii . Sporulated oocysts of E. furnessi differed from these three species by its rough outer layer. Furthermore, E. matsubayashii oocysts differed from those of E. furnessi by the presence of OR and by having smaller sporocysts (7 × 6). Oocysts of E. neoirresidua and E. poudrei differed from those of E. furnessi by having larger sporocysts (14.5 × 6.4 for E. neoirresidua and 14.4 × 6.4 for E. poudrei ).

Figures

Fig. 3. Nomarski interference contrast photographs of oocysts of Eimeria furnessi from the Amami rabbit stored in a potassium dichromate solution. M: micropyle; N: nucleus; OWo: outer layer of the wall; OWi: inner layer of the wall; RB: refractile body; SB: Stieda body; SO: sporont; SR: sporocyst residuum. Scale bars (all in the same scale) = 10 μm.

Fig. 6. Line drawings of the Eimeria species detected in the Amami rabbit. (a) Eimeria furnessi. (b) Eimeria hilleri. (c) Eimeria sagentae. Scale bar = 10 μ