Isospora fahdi, Megía-Palma & Martínez & Nasri & Cuervo & Martín & Acevedo & Belliure & Ortega & García-Roa & Selmi & Merino, 2016

Megía-Palma, Rodrigo, Martínez, Javier, Nasri, Intissar, Cuervo, José Javier, Martín, José, Acevedo, Iván, Belliure, Josabel, Ortega, Jesús, García-Roa, Roberto, Selmi, Slaheddine & Merino, Santiago, 2016, Phylogenetic relationships of Isospora, Lankesterella, and Caryospora species (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) infecting lizards, Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 16 (1), pp. 275-288 : 281-282

Isospora fahdi sp. nov.

Description: The sporulated oocysts (N =28) were ellipsoidal and had a measure of 25.6 (mean)±1.7 (SD) (range=23.1– 29.2)×22.0±2.2 (18.2–27.1) μm with a shape index (length/ width) of 1.17 ± 0.07 (1.01–1.28). The oocyst wall was bilayered with a smooth surface. It has a measure of 1.1±0.1 (0.8–1.3)μm thick. The micropyle, OR, and PG were absent. Sporocysts (N =26) were ellipsoidal, had a measure of 13.7± 1.2 (11.6 –16.0) × 9.7 ± 0.6 (8.3 –10.9) μm, and had unpigmented and smooth walls. The shape index was 1.4± 0.1 (1.1–1.7). It presents a knob-like SB, and the SSB was rounded (1.5×1.9 μm). The SR was composed of numerous granules of irregular sizes. SPs were elongated with distinct anterior and posterior RB.

Sporulation: Probably exogenous. The time of sporulation was not recorded.

Type host: Acanthodactylus erythrurus belli Grey, 1845 .

Type locality: Martil , Tétouan, and North Morocco ( UTM 30 S 293258, 3946654) .

Prevalence: 3/34 (8 %) of examined lizards were infected.

Type material: Phototypes and DNA voucher were deposited at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC in Madrid, Spain, under the accession number MNCN / ADN: 65270. No lizards were euthanized, and therefore, a symbiotype was not deposited. The 18S rRNA sequence was deposited in GenBank (accession number: KU180239 ) .

Etymology: The specific epithet fahdi is a genitive (possessive) Latin name (g. masculine). This patronym (eponym) honors Pr. Dr. Soumia Fahd from the University of Tétouan, Morocco, for her lifelong dedication to herpetological studies of North Africa and in expression of our thanks for her help and hospitality during our field work in Morocco.