June 2018, Volume 95, Issue 5, pp 455–463 | Cite as

Isospora lopesi n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the eastern white-throated spadebill Platyrinchus mystaceus Vieillot (Passeriformes: Tyranni: Tyrannidae) in South America

A species of Isospora Schneider, 1881 (Protozoa: Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) considered as new to science is described and characterised molecularly from the eastern white-throated spadebill Platyrinchus mystaceus Vieillot in the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, southeastern Brazil. Isospora lopesi n. sp. has oöcysts that are subspheroidal to ovoidal, 18–24 × 18–22 (20.6 × 19.7) µm, with smooth, bilayered wall, c.1.5 μm thick. Micropyle and oöcyst residuum are absent, but one polar granule is present. Sporocysts are ellipsoidal, 12–16 × 8–11 (14.4 × 8.6) µm. The Stieda body is flattened to half-moon-shaped and sub-Stieda body is rounded. Sporocyst residuum is present, consisting of numerous spherules of different sizes. Sporozoites are vermiform with anterior and posterior refractile bodies and nucleus. Molecular analysis was conducted at the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene. This new isolate exhibited similarity greater than 98% with Isospora spp. isolates from spectacled warblers Sylvia conspicillata Temminck, 1820. This is the fourth isosporoid coccidian described from New World tyrannid birds, but is the first to have a complementary molecular characterisation.

This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as A03A911C-95B2-404A-A8D4-D3BDFF598468. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. This is the Version of Record.

We are thankful to the staff at the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, mainly to the research coordinator Dr Léo Nascimento.

This study was supported by grants from the Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Field collecting permits were issued to BPB by SISBIO/ICMBio (license No. 49605–1) and CEUA/ICBS/UFRRJ (protocol No. 008/2015). All applicable institutional, national and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

da Silva-Carvalho, L.M., Pastura, D.G.N., Gomes, J.V. et al. Syst Parasitol (2018) 95: 455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-018-9795-z
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