Hepatozoon apri, Yamamoto & Tokiwa & Tobiume & Akamatsu & Matsuo & Moribe & Ike, 2017

Yamamoto, Mizuki, Tokiwa, Toshihiro, Tobiume, Miki, Akamatsu, Shigeru, Matsuo, Kayoko, Moribe, Junji & Ike, Kazunori, 2017, Hepatozoon apri n. sp. (Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae) from the Japanese wild boar Sus scrofa leucomystax (Mammalia: Cetartiodactyla), International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 6 (3), pp. 354-360 : 355-356

Family Hepatozoidae Wenyon, 1926

cells with foamy cytoplasm ( Fig. 3a ). Two types of developing meronts were observed in the tissues of myocardium muscles. These immature meronts were located in the center of enlarged vacuoles ( Fig. 3b and c ). One immature meront was wheel spoke-shaped and 45.0 × 27.5 μm in size, with approximately 30 peripherally arranged merozoites as palisades inside a membrane, and foamy cytoplasm ( Fig. 3b ). The other immature meront was ovoidal, 35.0 × 26.5 μm in size, and with a lumen loosely filled with approximately 50 merozoites with rounded large nuclei ( Fig. 3c ). One mature meront found in the skeletal muscle tissue was 47.5 × 30.0 μm in size, with a lumen densely filled with numerous small nucleated merozoites ( Fig. 3d ).

Figures

Fig. 3. a–d) Various developmental stages of Hepatozoon apri n. sp. detected in the muscles. a) A trophozoite (arrow) in the femoral muscles. The outer layer contains a fibroblast-like nucleus (arrowhead). b–c) Immature meronts found in the heart. d) Mature meront in the femoral muscles. H&E stain. Bar = 20 μm.