Chiromantis Peters 1854

Duszynski, Donald W., Bolek, Matthew G. & Upton, Steve J., 2007, Coccidia (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) of amphibians of the world, Zootaxa 1667 (1667), pp. 1-77 : 46-47

Host genus Chiromantis Peters 1854

(15 spp.)

Eimeria fragilis Jirků and Modrý 2005 ( Fig. 31)

Type host: Chiromantis petersii kelleri Boettger 1893 , Central foam-nest tree frog.

Other hosts: None known to date.

Type locality: AFRICA: Kenya, Kula Mawe (Eastern province, 00° 34' 11.1" N, 38° 11' 56.3" E) .

Geographic distribution: AFRICA: Kenya.

Description of sporulated oocyst: Oocyst shape: ellipsoidal; wall thickness: ~0.5; wall characteristics: smooth; L x W: 18.5 x 15.2 (17–19.5 x 14.5–16); L/W ratio 1.2 (1.1–1.3); M, OR, PG: all absent. Distinctive features of oocyst: thin, smooth wall that easily breaks down in hypertonic Sheather’s sugar solution.

Description of sporocyst and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: navicular (slightly pointed at both ends); L x W: 10.6 x 6.8 (9.5–12 x 6–7); L/W ratio 1.6 (1.5–1.7); SB: present as slightly thickened end of sporocyst, barely visible; SSB and PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: mass of fine refractile granules, each ~1 wide, so numerous they almost completely fill sporocyst leaving only parts of SZ visible; SZ: elongate, 10 x 2, with finely granulated cytoplasm and each with 2 spheroidal RB, 1–1.5, located at opposite ends of each SZ; N, ~1.5, in center of SZ. Distinctive features of sporocyst: SR that completely packs sporocyst obscuring SZ and tendency of sporocysts to disintegrate during storage and release free SZ into oocyst.

Prevalence: 1 of 1 (100%).

Sporulation: Presumably exogenous; oocysts were stored in 2.5% K 2 Cr 2 O 7 at room temperature for 4 wk and then at 6–7° C for 3 mo before being examined, some of which were not sporulated.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Intranuclear in epithelial cells of the small intestine.

Endogenous stages: Early trophozoites, 3 x 2, were within a PV, 5 x 3.5–4, inside a host cell N. Meronts, with ~5 merozoites, were 6–7 x 4–5 and each merozoite was 5 x 1. Mature microgamonts are irregular in shape, ~10–15 x 7.5–14. Macrogamonts in various stages of maturity are 14–17 x 11–17 and have a large N and many eosinophilic granules, 0.5–1 wide. Sometimes multiple stages are found in a single host cell N, each within its own PV.

Pathololgy: Unknown.

Materials deposited: Photosyntypes of sporulated oocysts and histological sections are deposited in the collection of the Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic (R 60/04). Symbiotype host (sensu Frey et al. 1992) is in the herpetological collection of the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi (A/4138).

Remarks: This is the only species, to date, described from this family of frogs. The oocyst wall is thin and fragile and the sporocysts have the tendency to disintegrate and release free SZ into the oocyst content. Jirků and Modrý (2005) first examined oocysts after 4 mo of storage, at which time they found that 80% of sporulated oocysts contained free SZ. Intranuclear development has only been reported in three other amphibian coccidia, E. ranarum ( Fig. 26) from P. esculenta and R. temporaria , E. wambaensis ( Fig. 18) from H. viridiflavus , and E. grobbeni ( Fig. 48) from S. atra , the Alpine salamander. In addition, the geographic origin and host phylogeny make the conspecificity with other anuran eimerians unlikely.