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Description of Sarcocystis turdusi sp. nov. from the common blackbird (Turdus merula)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2012

L. KUTKIENĖ ,
P. PRAKAS ,
D. BUTKAUSKAS  and
A. SRUOGA
L. KUTKIENĖ
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Akademijos 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania
P. PRAKAS*
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Akademijos 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania
D. BUTKAUSKAS
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Akademijos 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania
A. SRUOGA
Affiliation:
Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Biology, K. Donelaičio 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania
*
*Corresponding author: Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Vilnius, Lithuania. Tel: +370 6 7185123. Fax: +370 5 2729352. E-mail: petrasprakas@yahoo.com
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Summary

Cysts of Sarcocystis species were found in 24 of 44 (54·5%) examined blackbirds (Turdus merula). Under the light microscope, only 1 morphological type of cyst was found in all birds investigated. Ribbon-shaped cysts were long (the largest fragment found amounted to 7 mm) and of different thickness (25–206 μm). A cyst wall reached up to 3·5 μm and had finger-like protrusions. Under the transmission electron microscope, a single cyst isolated from 1 blackbird was studied. The cyst wall was 2·5–4·4 μm thick, had club- or irregularly-shaped and sometimes branched protrusions that differed in size. The content of cysts was divided into large chambers by septa. Orange segment-shaped cystozoites were 6·2 × 1·4 (5·5–7·2 × 1·2–1·5) μm. This type of cyst wall has never been described in Sarcocystis species isolated from birds, thus far. The results of 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA and ITS–1 region sequences showed that S. turdusi was most closely related to S. columbae, S. calchasi, S. wobeseri, S. cornixi and Sarcocystis sp. ex Accipiter nisus parasitizing birds. Phylogenetic results suggest that predatory birds are the most probable definitive hosts of S. turdusi.

Keywords

Sarcocystisblackbirdcyst morphology18S rDNA28S rDNAITS–1
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 139 , Issue 11 , September 2012 , pp. 1438 - 1443
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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