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Coccidia (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from Sciurid Rodents ( Eutamias, Sciurus, Tamiasciurus spp.) from the Western United States and Northern Mexico with Descriptions of Two New Species 1
Author(s) -
HILL TODD P.,
DUSZYNSKI DONALD W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1986.tb05607.x
Subject(s) - eimeriidae , coccidia , biology , eimeria , zoology , apicomplexa , feces , anatidae , parasite hosting , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , malaria , world wide web , computer science , immunology , plasmodium falciparum
. Since May 1979, 190 rodents in the family Sciuridae, representing three genera and nine species, have been collected in the western United States and northern Mexico and examined for coccidia; 71 (37%) had coccidian oocysts in their feces. These included 2 of 12 (17%) Eutamias canipes ; 7 of 12 (58%) E. dorsalis ; 18 of 50 (36%) E. merriami ; 33 of 96 (34%) E. obscurus ; 3 of 4 (75%) E. townsendii ; 3 of 9 (33%) Sciurus aberti ; 1 of 1 S. griseus ; 1 of 1 Tamiasciurus hudsonicus mogollonensis ; and 3 of 5 (60%) T. mearnsi. The following coccidians were identified from infected rodents: Eimeria cochisensis n. sp. and Eimeria dorsalis n. sp. from E. canipes; E. cochisensis, E. dorsalis , and E. tamiasciuri from E. dorsalis; E. dorsalis and E. tamiasciuri from E. merriami; E. cochisensis, E. dorsalis, E. tamiasciuri , and E. wisconsinensis from E. obscurus; E. cochisensis and E. dorsalis from E. townsendii; E. ontarioensis and E. tamiasciuri from S. aberti; E. tamiasciuri from S. griseus; E. tamiasciuri and E. toddi from T. h. mogollonensis ; and E. tamiasciuri from T. mearnsi. Sporulated oocysts of Eimeria dorsalis n. sp. were ovoid, 21.9 × 16.8 (17–24 × 14–20) μm with sporocysts ovoid, 11.5 × 6.9 (10–14 × 6–8) μm. Sporulated oocysts of Eimeria cochisensis n. sp. were spheroid to subspheroid, 16.7 × 15.3 (15–18 × 14–17) μm, with sporocysts ovoid, 8.4 × 5.6 (6–11 × 4–7) μm. Fifty‐five of 71 (77%) infected hosts had oocysts of only one eimerian species in their feces at the time they were examined. One eimerian, E. tamiasciuri , was found in seven of nine host species in three genera. A list is provided of all eimerians (22, including the species described here) that have been described in the literature from Eutamias, Sciurus , and Tamiasciurus spp.