Open AccessGregarines (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinorida) parasitizing the cave cricket Troglophilus (Orthoptera: Raphidophoridae) in the Slovenian karst
Author(s) -
Dušan Devetak,
Tone Novak
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acta carsologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.362
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1580-2612
pISSN - 0583-6050
DOI - 10.3986/ac.v50i2-3.9305
Subject(s) - cave , biology , orthoptera , fauna , karst , apicomplexa , zoology , cricket , ecology , paleontology , malaria , immunology , plasmodium falciparum
The cave crickets Troglophilus neglectus Krauss, 1879 and T. cavicola (Kollar, 1833) originating from caves in Slovenia were surveyed for gregarines. Two gregarine species were identified. Gregarina troglophili (Golemansky & Lipa, 1991) occurred in both cave cricket species, T. cavicola being reported a new host species. Besides, a new species, Gregarina bernardae sp. n., infecting T. neglectus, was identified and described. The two species often infest the same T. neglectus individuals, but can be well distinguished upon the shape and morphometric indexes of both solitary gregarines and associations. The deutomerite in solitary gamonts of G. troglophili is orbicular to broadly elliptoid, while in G. bernardae sp. n. it is oblong to dolioform. In associations, the primite deutomerite in G. troglophili is orbicular to broadly elliptoid, while in G. bernardae sp. n. it is shallowly oblong to oblong. In contrast to broadly obovoid to finely obdeltoid satellite deutomerite in G. troglophili, it is narrowly dolioform or dolioform to narrowly obdeltoid in G. bernardae sp. n. Both species are new to the faunal list of Slovenia, and to the list of cave-dwelling species in the country. We direct the attention to the parasite diversity of cave-dwelling animals – a promising, but understudied topic that might considerably contribute to the diversity of the subterranean fauna.