Eimeria grayi Jacobson & Ossiboff & Paquet-Durand & Childress & Barrett & Marlin & McAllister & Walden 2022, n. sp.
Creators: name: Jacobson, Elliott R.
name: Ossiboff, Robert J.
name: Paquet-Durand, Isabelle
name: Childress, April L.
name: Barrett, Heather
name: Marlin, Jacob
name: McAllister, Chris T.
name: Walden, Heather D. S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Chromista
Miozoa
Eucoccidiida
Eimeriidae
Eimeria
Eimeria grayi

description: Eimeria grayi n. sp.   (Figs. 2–5)  
 Description of sporulated oocyst: Oocyst shape (n - 15): ellipsoidal; smooth, thin-walled; L x W: 30.4 (26–35) x 15.2 (13–17), L/W: 2.0 (1.7–2.5); M, OR, PG: all absent. Distinctive feature of oocyst: 3 conical projections (2.1–3.5 long) present on 1 end, with the oocyst wall forming a broadly pointed end on the opposite pole.   
 Description of sporocyst and sporozoites: SP: (n - 4); shape: elongate–ellipsoidal, with a smooth single-layered wall; L x W: 13.7 x 7.5 (12–19 x 6–12), L/W 1.8 (1.7–2.2); SR: sporocyst residuum, coarsely granular, and scattered; SZ: banana-shaped, 14.2 x 3.6 (14–15 x 3–4) in situ; N visible, slightly posterior to midpoint of SZ. Distinctive feature of SP: slightly pointed at 1 end with a distinct SB, SR of only a few globules, and a SRB in each SZ.   Taxonomic summary  
 Type host: Central American river turtle, Dermatemys mawii Gray, 1847 (Testudines: Dermatemydidae). Collected 11 August and 11 November 2018. Host photovouchers: University of Florida (UF) 191862-191866.   
 Type and only locality: Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, Mile Marker 58, Southern Highway, Belize, Central America (16 ° 33.326  '  N, 88 ° 42.423  '  W).   
 Prevalence: 1/3 (33%) based on oocyst identification in samples; 3/3 (100%) based on PCR and sequencing of the 18S rRNA and ITS genes.   
 Materials deposited: Photosyntype of a sporulated oocyst is deposited in the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology (HWML), University of Nebraska, as HWML 206401.   
 ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B7C62C80- DF94-49F0-A73F-586C1FB2B578.   
 Etymology: The specific epithet is named in honor of the British naturalist, John Edward Gray (1800–1875), who described the host in 1847.   
 Molecular biology: All 3 fecal samples had similar content of the 18S rRNA and ITS genes. After primer editing, a 347-bp segment of the 18S rRNA gene was determined for the hicatee coccidian (GenBank accession MW538581 ). BLASTn results identified 99.4% sequence identity to several apicomplexan organisms, including Caryospora -like sp. US3 (MN450817) from a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), Caryospora cheloniae genotype 1 (KT361639) from Ch. mydas, and multiple lizard Schellackia spp. The hicatee coccidian was 99.7% identical to a 347-bp segment of the 18S rRNA gene of the reference sample of E. mitraria (GenBank accession MW538549). An 841-bp segment of the ITS region was determined for the hicatee coccidian and reference sample of E. mitraria (GenBank accessions MW538550 and MW538533, respectively), with 75.2% sequence identity to each other. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis placed the hicatee coccidian in a clade with Eimeria collieie, E. mitraria, Eimeria arnyi, and 2 coccidians of green sea turtles (Ca. cheloniae and Caryospora-like sp. US3) with a posterior probability of 0.89 (Fig. 6).   Remarks  
 The oocysts being passed by the hicatee possessed multiple conical projections with 3 projecting from 1 pole and a broaderbased projection from the opposite pole (Figs. 2–5). To date, the 7 previously described oocysts of Testudines having mitra-like conical projections or irregular surfaces from at least 1 end of their oocyst are (1) Eimeria amazonensis from the red-footed tortoise, Chelonoidis (formerly Geochelone) carbonaria from Brazil (Lainson et al., 2008); (2) Eimeria hynekprokopi from the Indochinese box turtle, Cuora galbinifrons from Vietnam (Široký and Modrý, 2010); (3) Eimeria iversoni from a captive Galapagos tortoise, Chelonoidis sp. (McAllister et al., 2014); (4) Eimeria jirkamoraveci in the Neotropical chelid turtle Mesoclemmys (previously Batrachemys) heliostemma (Široký et al., 2006); (5) E. mitraria originally described from the Asian Chinese threekeeled pond turtle, Mauremys (formerly Chinemys) reevesii and subsequently described in multiple species of aquatic turtles on 3 continents (Laveran and Mesnil, 1902; Duszynski and Morrow, 2014); (6) Eimeria motelo from the yellow-footed tortoise, Chelonoidis (formerly Geochelone) denticulata, from Peru (Hurkováet al., 2000); and (7) Eimeria stylosa in the red-eared slider from Texas (McAllister and Upton, 1989). Overall, oocysts of E. grayi are considerably larger than other coccidians with surface projections (Table I).
description: Published as part of Jacobson, Elliott R., Ossiboff, Robert J., Paquet-Durand, Isabelle, Childress, April L., Barrett, Heather, Marlin, Jacob, McAllister, Chris T. & Walden, Heather D. S., 2022, A New Coccidian (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) in the Critically Endangered Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys Mawii) in Belize, pp. 92-99 in Journal of Parasitology 108 (1) on pages 95-96, DOI: 10.1645/21-44, http://zenodo.org/record/7093841